


I live in a grumpy deer's bedroom

by Lucilequiquempois



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: (he's 13), 12 years old dipper, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Deerper, Human!Bill, Kid!Bill - Freeform, Monsterfalls AU - Freeform, bill had a rude childhood, bill's dad isn't a good dad, hunter au but not really, platonic billdip !
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-11
Updated: 2016-03-13
Packaged: 2018-04-25 22:59:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 33,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4979920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucilequiquempois/pseuds/Lucilequiquempois
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Dipper goes in the forest of Gravity Falls to find a cure to the curse that transformed everyone into monsters,  he meets a strange kid named Bill Cipher.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there ! I finally managed to write something, and its with Deerper! (woo what a surprise)  
> Also English isn't my first language, so I called help from nike-alpha-wolf.tumblr.com and aslongastherespastawewillsurvive.tumblr.com

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, now that i reread the thing i realize this is really shitty writing, please forgive the first few chapters it gets better with time.

The atmosphere was still chilling by this early morning of summer, but the warm rays of sun passing through the trees were warming up the fur of the young half deer, half human creature, who was walking there. 

Dipper Pines woke up early this morning, determined to find a cure to the curse that transformed the entire town of Gravity Falls into monsters.  
He needed to fill a few vials with water from an enchanted river, ‘Fluvius Cantatis’, which caused all this disaster in the first place.  
He had brought his backpack with everything he needed: the journal, ropes, Swiss Army knife, a bottle of water and an apple to eat on the way if he started getting hungry. His hat was barely sustaining on his head as his antlers were starting to show up, and he had trouble keeping the hat to stay correctly straight. Not that he complained, his antlers were like the chest hair he never had, and he couldn’t wait to see them fully grown in a few years. His chest puffed proudly at the thought.

The forest was calm and peaceful, so calm it was almost silent even.  
An unfamiliar scent filled his nose and the next second, there was ruffling not far from here. His furry ears straightened up at the sound and his heart started to beat faster. Instincts kicking in, he started running in the opposite direction.  
He didn’t know what he had smelled or heard, after all, it could have been as well as a squirrel or a werewolf, but he didn’t want to take the risk to check. Running as fast as his little legs could carry him, he didn’t see the rope knotted around two sticks to which he walked into. Before he knew it, he was pulled up by his hind leg, the swaying causing his head to hit a few trees as he was knocked out cold.

~

Bill was checking the traps in the forest, as his father asked him to do. The 13 year old blonde didn’t really like his father’s hobby but at the same time, he didn’t want to disappoint him by not completing the task. Yeah, his dad didn’t need to know that he didn’t like to kill innocent creatures for the sake of having fun doing it.  
All the traps he checked until now were empty and frustration was starting to take over. He couldn’t come back with empty arms again.  
It was the light steps from nearby that took him out of his thoughts. He stiffened, trying to focus on where the sound came from and observing the area with his working eye. He spotted a form dashing away from him on his right and started running after it, pulling out the rifle his dad gave him. Maybe he would bring something home after all.  
Bill followed whatever creature it was through the dense vegetation of the forest, the trail it was leaving behind him thick and obvious in its hurry to run away, and he could hear the heavy galloping getting fainter as he tried sprinting faster.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he heard something crack, yelp, and then loudly thump.  
The forest got silent again, and he sneaked over the place where he thought he heard the sound coming from.  
There, hanging by its hind leg, was a creature Bill only saw in picture books he liked to look at when he was a young kid. A centaur? Yeah, that was the name! he thought. Only this one had the body of a deer, and a young one at that. And where the neck and the head of a fawn should’ve been, there was a human torso, followed by a human head and arms hanging under him, It’s hands limply resting on the grass.  
His jaw dropped; he slowly reached closer to the unmoving...deertaur.  
Was it dead? No. He could see its furrowed eyebrows and its human chest moving with its slow breathing. He crouched in front of the boy’s face. Fluffy, caramel, deer ears, with a lighter fur inside them, were hanging on the side of its face, as if perked up in a surprised expression. Its brown hair was hanging to the ground, revealing a huge bump on its forehead, surely caused by its head meeting the tree. Bill couldn’t help but notice the weird spots on the being’s forehead. Upside down, he had trouble recognizing it, but looking at it through the same angle, it took the shape of the big dipper. The boy, he guessed because of the antlers on his head, was wearing a red shirt that folded over his chest, revealing its bellybutton and the borderline of where human skin met deer fur. 

It was fascinating to look at the creature in front of him, whom was probably not any older than he was, but seeing that its face was starting to turn red, he got up, swiftly noting the backpack on the ground. Inside there was a visibly old and huge book, ropes, a water bottle and…a pocket knife.  
Bill grabbed the knife and turned to the rope connecting the deer’s leg to the branch. He took hold of the rope, just above the leg, and started cutting through it.  
Before it was completely cut though, he wrapped his arms around the deer’s belly, holding the boy up so he wouldn’t crash into the ground and injure himself more than he already had.  
The rope suddenly snapped, and before he knew it, Bill was crashing into the ground. Being thrown under the weight of the young cervitaur’s hindquarters, his air supply was roughly cut off.  
He didn’t dare move for a moment, but when the deer boy kept sleeping heavily on top of him, Bill pushed its furry butt on the side, keeping its head on his lap. 

After petting its fluffy pelt without thinking, Bill lied down against the tree behind him. What to do now? He couldn’t possibly tell his dad about this, or anyone, for that matter. To be honest, he didn’t want to see the amazing creature caged or killed, or even worse, between the hands of weird scientists who would cut him open. No, he would keep his discovery to himself.

~

Dipper woke up to the wonderful feeling of a hand scratching him behind the ear. He stretched with a hum and nuzzled closer to the warmth he was lying in, wanting to fall asleep again. He froze when he heard a light chuckle and his eyes opened wide. He wasn’t acquainted with the person he had been sleeping on, and he didn’t even remember falling asleep. He stiffened and got up on clumsy legs, trying to get away but failing when a hand came up and grabbed his hind leg. He fell and pain erupted through his hooved limb, his head spinning. Memories of running in the forest and something tightening around his hind leg before falling unconscious flashed in his head.  
“Where do you think you’re going, Bambi?” The person behind him asked. He turned his head and saw that it was a boy, maybe around his age, with sandy, blonde hair, a golden eye―the right one being covered by a black eye patch―and freckles above the wide grin his face wore.  
“Bambi?”  
“Oh so you can talk! What are you? Where do you come from? Are there others like you? How come I never saw any creatures like you before?” The boy asked excitedly without letting go of his leg.  
“Dude! Slow down. How about you let go of my leg and then we can talk? ...It kinda’ hurts.” Dipper pulled lightly on the hand holding his leg for emphasis.  
“But you’re gonna run away if I let go of you. You can’t go, I found you. You’re mine now!” The blonde whined.  
“I’m sorry but I’m not anyone’s property. Now if you’ll excuse me I have stuff to―” Dipper did not expect the loud kid to move forward and wrap his arms around his torso, trapping his own arms simultaneously.  
“Nooooooooo, Bambi! Don’t gooooooo!” The boy pouted, his lower lip sticking out. His sudden movement caused the rifle on his back to reveal itself to the cervitaur.

The sight of the weapon made Dipper’s heart speed up, and with an almost deer-like yelp and his eyes going wide, he broke out of the boy’s hold and kicked his face with his hind leg when the boy showed no sign of letting go of his form. The boy let out a cry and released Dipper to rub his hands on the pained spot on his face,consequently allowing for the cervitaur to run away.  
“No wait come back! I’m sorry!” But Dipper didn’t turn back; he ran as far as his sore legs could carry him, only stopping when he couldn’t hear the blond’s cries anymore. Resting against a tree, he tried to get himself together again.  
Stupid deer instincts, making him act without thinking. Though, to be fair, running this fast saved him more than once, and this kid sure looked like a threat to him at that very moment, with his weird eyepatch and his strange behaviors. He just thought he was odd at first, but the rifle surely wasn’t a shiny toy. How the heck did this kid get a rifle? Where did he come from? He couldn’t possibly be from Gravity Falls since he was a normal kid and didn’t seem to know anything about the supernatural. Maybe he was from a city on the other side of the forest. And plus, the whole ‘you’re mine’ thingy ran shivers down his spine.

Dipper was about to leave the place and run back to the Mystery Shack when he realized he didn’t have his backpack anymore.  
“Dammit.” It must have fallen with his hat when he was hanging upside down earlier.  
Cursing himself, he turned and started to walk back on his tracks.  
~  
Bill sniffled and threw the rifle away behind the bushes, hiding his head behind his crossed arms and on his knees. You really messed up this time Cipher. The blond rested for a few minutes in this position.  
Raising his head a bit to look at the forest around him, he spotted the blue and white cap on the ground a few feet ahead of him. The boy reached up to grab it and examined the hat. It seemed old and torn up, and in the front of the thing was a single blue pine tree.

“Pine Tree…” The boy whispered.

He got up from his sitting position, having nothing else to do but to go back home; That was until Bill realized that the deerboy forgot all his stuff when he ran away, leaving a mess on the forest floor.  
“Oh no.” He grabbed the bag, putting it up with the cap on a branch he was sure the deer boy could reach. Before turning around and facing the face of the deer boy again.  
“Hu?” Before he knew it he was tackled against the tree, the creature pushing his forearm on his chest and his other arm next to his head.  
“Don’t try to do anything or I won’t hesitate to use my antlers on you. They may seem tiny but those things hurt, dude.” The deertaur said threateningly, as pushed on his hind legs so he could look taller, successfully trapping Bill under him.  
“Whoa, calm down there! I never meant to hurt you Pine Tree!” Bill said, his voice quivering slightly.  
Eyeing him suspiciously, the half deer pulled back, returning to his normal height―which was surprisingly a bit smaller than Bill―and backed up a bit.  
“Then why did you capture me? And what about the rifle? And what’s with the nicknames!?” He said, eyes darting out in search of the weapon.  
Bill relaxed and pulled himself off of the tree he was pressing his form on, crossing his arms rather indignantly.  
“It wasn’t me, it was my dad. He’s a hunter and put some traps in the forest to catch prey. I freed you. As for the nicknames, I just don’t know if you have a name, that’s all.” He grinned.  
Pine Tree’s eyes widened.  
“You did? Huh...Thank you, I guess? And of course I have a name!” He said, puffing his cheeks.  
“It was my pleasure, Pine Tree!” He offered his hand. “I’m Bill Cipher. Nice to meet ya!”  
Dipper took the hand and shook it.  
“I’m Dipper.”


	2. The manliest deer of the forest

****

Bill grabbed the blue hat on the ground and put it back on Dipper’s head.

“You forgot this earlier.” He said with a smile.

Straightening the cap behind his antlers, Dipper leaned over to grab his backpack and placed it on his shoulders.

“Thank you, hum. Well, bye I guess, I should go back home now.” He said, feeling uncomfortable with the blonde being this close to him.

Bill’s smile fell, and slight panic flashed in his eyes.

“Bu-but, aren’t you gonna answer my questions? You can’t leave me hanging like this! I mean, Pine Tree, you are half-deer, half-human! It’s amazing. I need to know!”

“And I really need to go.” He said, getting slightly irritated. “You can learn about the magical creatures of the forest another time. I’m a busy guy.” Brows furrowed, Dipper started walking away, his ears pressed down onto  the sides of his face.

Bill seemed to be thinking about saying something.

“Huu―If you don’t stay I―I’ll tell my dad and everyone about you! And they’re gonna chase you and do weird experiments on you!”

The deer boy sniggered and turned his head back to Bill.

“Oh yeah? Do you really think they would believe you? The crazy talking of a one-eyed pre-teen won’t interest anyone.” He huffed.

“Okay, but you owe me something, you know! Since I saved you... How about that?”

“I wouldn’t have gotten trapped if you hadn’t been here in the first place, it’s your fault if I got stuck.” Dipper was facing the blonde now. His back hoof hit the earth in growing irritation, nerves reacting and his pelt shivering.

Bill just sighed looking down.

“Alright…”

“Thank god.” Dipper sighed. Turning around, the cervitaur started walking away when Bill spoke up again.

“You don’t give me much choice.” Dipper heard him taking a deep breath. Looking back at the annoying kid, he saw that Bill’s eyes were closed tightly, eyebrows furrowed, as if in deep concentration, and his cheeks inflated with air.

“What are you doing?”

Bill didn’t answer, and his face started turning red. Dipper trotted back to the boy, a hint of slight worry displayed in his eyes.

“Dude breathe, you’re over reacting!”

When Bill’s face started turning blue, Dipper knew he wouldn’t be able to hold out for much longer, but even after another ten seconds, Bill was still not moving and the cervitaur decided to just shout, panic in his voice.

“OKAY, okay! I’m gonna stay! Just don’t do that again!”

Bill immediately opened his eyes and took a deep breath. Then, as if nothing happened, he grabbed Dipper’s arms and forced him to sit―well, more like his deer body lying down with his human half still up―with him in the grass.

“Cool! So, what are you exactly? Where do you live? Are there more of your kind in the forest? Is this forest magic? How come I never saw anything like you before? Can you turn invisible? And can you―”

Dipper smacked his hands on the boy’s mouth, effectively shushing him. The look of pure wonder Bill gave him was adorable, freckles adding innocence to his face, and Dipper couldn’t help but smile at the boy’s excitement.

“Slow down, slow down.” He said cuckling. “I may be magic, but I can’t register so many questions at a time.”

Gently prying off Dipper’s hands from his mouth, Bill took a deep breath and sat, shifting in a more comfy position. He looked up at Dipper, a look of great expectation on his face.

“Soooo. What are you?”

“I’m a cervitaur, half-human, half-deer. A bit like a centaur, but definitely not a horse.” He answered with a laugh, feeling a little stupid.

“Also more adorable! And you are definitely fluffier too! Your ears are so soft!”

Said ears went flat against the sides of Dipper’s red face.

“I’m not cute.” He mumbled, cheeks puffed out and arms crossed over his chest.

“Yeah, Bambi, sure.” Bill grinned.

“Call me bambi or cute one more time and I’m leaving. You can hold your breath all you want, but I won’t care.”

“Okay okay, I’m sorry. Hum, do you have a herd or something?”

“Hum no, not exactly a herd…”

“Then what?” Bill asked, tilting his head.

Dipper went silent,, considering his answer. Should he tell the boy the truth? Then again, like he said earlier, it's not like anyone would believe him if he explained about Gravity Falls and its… little curse issue to anyone. So he shrugged and started talking again, his face all serious now.

“Okay, Bill, do you think you can keep a secret?”

Bill gasped and crawled a little closer to Dipper, interest shining in his goldish brown eye.

“I’ll be quiet, like a rock.” Bill whispered.

Dipper looked to both sides before leaning close to the boy’s face.

“I wasn’t always a monster. I used to be human.”

“What happened?” Bill gasped.

“We were cursed.” He looked down and his face grew darker.

The excitement in Bill’s eye was replaced by sympathy.

“Cursed? Wow, I’m so sorry Dipper. Can I know what happened?”

Dipper sighed.

“Yeah, but you might want to get yourself comfortable ‘cause this is gonna take a while.”

Bill didn’t wait for his furry friend to finish his sentence before he was lying on his stomach, elbows on the ground and head resting in his hands. Dipper eyed him with surprise before shaking his head slightly, a little smile on his face.

He started telling his story.

~

_When Dipper and his twin sister Mabel found a clear, crystal stream a few weeks ago, they spent the entire afternoon swimming and having fun in the more than tempting water. They were happy, and summer was going just fine._

__

_Only, all good things come to an end, right?_

__

_That night Dipper went to bed, feeling feverish with pain in his legs. Mabel followed soon after, feeling sick too. The twelve year old was curled up under his blankets, shivering from the cold waves passing through his body. He felt suddenly a great pain in his legs and ears before he fell unconscious._

__

_It was Mabel’s choked breaths that woke him up the next morning. His heavy eyelids opened, the light streaming  from the window too bright as he tried to sit up, but his legs felt numb, as if something heavy was weighing them down. Mabel choked again and his worried eyes turned to his sister’s bed._

_“Mabel?” He made a move to get out of bed but was stopped by this weird feeling in his legs again. Looking at them still under the sheet, he saw a strange form that was definitely not what he was supposed to see there! Dipper gripped the sheet and removed it from his body, to reveal the furry lower half of a deer, well, more like a fawn._

_“What the―”_

_“Dipp―er” came the rough voice of Mabel with a series of coughing. He jumped straight out of the bed, trying to stand on four clumsy legs, and rushed to the other side of the room._

_“Mabel! What’s happening? Are you okay?” He asked in a shaky voice.Mabel’s face had a blueish color._

_“I can’t breathe Dip,”-more coughing-”I ne-need water.”_

_“Water? Uh, I can try to get you a glass from the kitchen?” He could hear his heart beating in his ears._

_“No Dipper, you don’t understand.” Mabel interrupted him, “I-I can’t feel my legs, and my throat is dry.” Her eyes were shining with panic reflecting off of her tears._

_The young boy tugged on Mabel’s blanket, expecting to find her in a deer body too, but what he found instead was the bright pink scaled tail of a mermaid._

_“Oh no!” Dipper hurried and lifted his sister’s body in his trembling arms, and tried to carry her to the bathroom._

__

_Pushing the bathroom door with the side of his arm, he burst into the room, trying not to drop Mabel. He gently placed her in the tub and started filling it with water._

_As soon as Mabel had her tail and neck immersed in the clear liquid, colors started coming back to her face and her breathing calmed down._

_“Thanks Dipper…” She said in a quivering voice, her eyes closed._

_Dipper sighed in relief and his legs gave out under him while his human half rested on the side of the tub. He closed his eyes as well, trying find his breath again._

_“Wh―” he inhaled and exhaled deeply. ”What the hell?” Dipper’s heart was still racing in his chest; he could swear it was faster than when he was usually scared or out of breath._

_“What in the world is happening, Mabes? I-I-I don’t understand...”_

_Mabel made a screeching noise._

_“Oh my god, Dipper! You’ve got fluffy deer ears!” she said, putting her hands on her cheeks._

_Dipper’s hands immediately went reaching for his ears as they met soft, floppy, pointed ears covered in fur. His eyes grew wide._

_“Oh my god.” Mabel leaned out of the tub to examine Dipper’s new features. “Dip Dop, you’re a deer! Half-deer. You’re a… a deertaur!”_

_“Cervitaur is a more adequate term.” He couldn’t help but correct in a whisper._

_Mabel lifted her tail above the water, pink scales flashing with the artificial light of the bathroom._

_“And I’m a mermaid! It’s amazing!” She exclaimed with a bright, toothy smile. The newly transformed cervitaur looked at her with worry._

_“Mabel I don’t think anything that’s happening right now can be qualified as amazing.”_

_“What are you saying Dipper? I’ve always wanted to be a mermaid!”_

_“Maybe, but we need to understand what happened, and why it happened! What if it’s permanent Mabel?” His twin’s smile fell a bit._

_“Oh, I didn’t see it from that angle…”_

_Dipper went silent, but his eyes widened when he suddenly realized..._

_“Mabel! What if Grunkle Stan was transformed too? What if he’s a mermaid too or something? Something that can’t survive out of the water?” Without waiting for an answer, he stood up and rushed out to the stairs, a mix of furry legs on the steps._

_“Grunkle Stan!” He slammed his hand repeatedly on his great uncle’s door. The old man always closed his door at night._

_Dipper heard a growl from the other side of the door and heavy footsteps. He backed a bit when the steps resonated behind the closed door._

_When the door opened, revealing his grunkle, Dipper’s eyes went wide and his mouth opened in a deer-like screech. The man had grey, stone-like skin, horns on his forehead and pointy ears. A tail and large, stony wings folded behind his back, which had torn his grunkle’s shirt in the process of them growing out. His eyes illuminated in bright yellow orbs._

__

_Grunkle Stan was a gargoyle._

__

_“Don’t freak out, kid” He said raising his clawed hands in a reassuring manner, his voice was loud and gruff. “So… It happened to you too?”_

_“Yes, and Mabel was affected as well.” Dipper said, voice quivering. He relaxed after realizing there was no danger._

_Glancing behind his great uncle, Dipper spotted the mess in the room, furniture strewn all over the place. He gave Stan a questioning look._

_“Don’t mind the mess, I kinda panicked when a tail and wings suddenly grew on my back.”  He laughed, trying to stay relaxed despite the situation. But his smile fell when he looked at his nephew more closely and could see him trembling, confusion evident in his eyes._

_“Any idea of what happened?”_

_Dipper looked up at his Grunkle._

__

_“Not a clue…”_

## ~

“Wow.” Bill said leaning his head down on Dipper’s flank, looking up at the sky. The hybrid shook him off and shifted, repositioning his legs under him.

“Yup, the day after my coworkers came to see how we were doing, Soos changed into a wax golem and Wendy was a werewolf.”

“Wait...” Bill interrupted him. “ ...so you mean you guys are not the only ones who were affected?”

Dipper shook his head.

“No, the entire town of Gravity Falls as of now is one hundred percent monster populated.”

“And so... you know what happened?”

“It’s the river we swam in! it’s cursed! And the whole town drank from it when the city used it as a back up once the water system was deficient. I read about it in the journal when I looked for a reason. I should have seen it before. Maybe Mabel and I would be normal by now…”

Bill frowned at that.

“Pine Tree, don’t blame yourself for this, you two would have drunk the water anyway.”

“Yeah but, I can’t help feeling a bit guilty for not finding a cure yet....I mean, it can’t stay this way forever… We all have a life outside of Gravity Falls.”

Bill smiled softly and ruffled Dipper’s hair.

“You’ll figure something out Pine Tree, I know you will. And hey, it’s not so bad! I mean, you can run really fast and you are adorable!”

Dipper blushed at that but quickly changed his face to a grin when he pushed Bill to the ground and crashed his deer body on Bill’s back, pinning the boy down with all his weight. He started tickling him mercilessly.

“No, Pine Tree! Stop it, I can’t breath!” The blond half laughed half screamed. There were tears in his eyes from all the laughter. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry―aahaHAHA”

“I’m not adorable!” Dipper laughed, refusing to cease his tickling.

“Okay―ah―I’ll admit it, you are not adorable, you’re the manliest deer of the forest!” At that, Bill reached under Dipper’s furry chest and side and started tickling too, and Dipper made a baby goat-like screech. Soon they were both lost in childish battle, laughing loudly in the calm forest.

They stopped after a few minutes to just lie down in the grass, trying to catch their breath while still smiling.

Bill wished this could last forever. He had never had so much fun in his life! Nor had he ever had a friend before.

But when Dipper got up, shaking the grass and twigs from his hair and fur, he knew all good things had to come to an end.

“I’m sorry Bill, but I really need to go. My sis is gonna kill me if I don’t give her any news soon,” he said, lending a hand out to the boy still lying on the ground.

“Nah, it’s okay. My dad is gonna worry too anyway… I can’t make you stay forever.”

Bill turned around, and started walking away. Dipper bit his lip and stopped the blonde.

“No, wait, Bill..!” When Bill turned his head to look at him in surprise, Dipper just smiled. “Do you think we could see each other again tomorrow? Here?”

Bill’s face brightened and his mouth opened in a huge toothy smile.

“Yeah, sure! See ya’ tomorrow, same time, same place, then! And try not falling into a trap again!” He said, waving his hand and walking backwards.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be careful! Bye, Bill!” He waved his own hand until Bill disappeared behind the trees.

He kept staring into the forest for a few minutes, before turning around to walk home, feeling genuinely happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did it \o/ I hope you still like it, and now im going to bed, I'm exhausted


	3. Goose feathers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mistake with mermabel and mabelcorn was corrected... sorry again ^^'

Walking back to the shack had been difficult.

The young cervitaur didn’t realize it was already this late, and crepuscule was painting the sky with orange and pink. Dipper’s hind leg, the one who was caught in the snare earlier, was throbbing, making it difficult to walk. He hoped he didn’t have a sprain.

The sun was almost set when he made it back to the shack. He could hear the TV in the living room and he knew he couldn’t make it to his room without being caught, but he tried to close the door quietly anyway.

He spotted the form of his grunkle sitting in the couch. He made his way through the living room and tried to trot to the stairs without limping, hoping the old man would be asleep.

“Dipper.”

The deerboy flinched when the echoing voice of the gargoyle resonated in the room. He slowly turned back and put his most innocent smile on his face.

“Yes, Grunkle Stan?”

The unamused look his grunkle gave him told him it didn’t work.

“Why are you home so late? I was about to go look for you, I was worried something might have happened.”

Dipper’s furry ears lowered at the worried voice of the gargoyle.

“I-I’m sorry, Grunkle Stan, researching took me longer than I thought it would...and I twisted my leg on the way home.”

Stan just sighed.

“Kid, what are you even trying to do? We’ve been researching for more than two months since the curse happened and we haven’t even found a single clue on how to get back to normal! The only hint we had was that we changed your sister into a magical pony... I know you feel bad about what happened and we are all very grateful that you want to find a cure but I don’t want you to be obsessed with it. Don’t exhaust yourself over this, Dipper. Please.”

The deer boy’s ears were flat on his head now, and he looked at the ground, both ashamed of being scolded and his failure.

“I’m sorry…”

Stan sighed again and stood up. “Come to the kitchen, I’ll take a look at your leg.”

“N-no, I’m fine! I’ll just go to sleep.” Yellow glowing eyes scanned him for a moment.

“Alright.” The man shrugged.

Dipper climbed the stairs. He got better at using them with his deer legs now but he failed when he tried not to limp with his sprain. He threw his backpack on the ground before collapsing on the nest of covers and pillows on the floor that was now his bed, his old one being unusable with his new body.

A white form immediately laid by his side and wrapped its arms around his middle in a tight hug.

“Dip Dop’!” Mabel shouted in his sensible ears. He flinched and returned the hug, but something pointy stung his arm.

“Ah- Mabel, watch the horn!”

The unitaur let him go and grabbed his shoulder instead.

“Dipper, where were you? You were gone all day! Grunkle Stan and I were really worried there! He was about to go look for you when you got back.”

“Yeah I know, I’m sorry if I scared you Mabel but I swear I’m fi―”

“What’s this on your forehead?” Mabel gasped and pushed his cap and locks up with her hand, revealing the bump he had received from crashing into the tree this morning. He pulled away and pushed his cap back into place.

“Nothing. I fell off and bumped my head on a tree, that’s all.”

“Hm.” She said shaking her head. She then put her fingers gently on his bump and her horn glowed. A cold, numbing feeling radiated from under her finger tips and it was gone as soon as she removed her hand. He lifted his own to feel the area and felt nothing but smooth, uninjured skin.

“Thanks, Mabel.” He said with a smile.

“No prob’, Dippin’ dot!” She said with a smile, her braces shining with the moonlight streaming from the window. She laid on her side then, rolling playfully in the blankets of the nest like a horse would roll in the dirt, her coral colored hooves up in the air. Dipper clucked his tongue in annoyance and turned away a bit.

“Mabel, don’t do that in my bed! And stop it, you’re not an animal!” The curled brown locks of the end of her tail flopped against the back of his head then.

“Oh but I’m half of one, and so are you!” At that, she pushed him on his side and started scratching that spot between his front legs that made him go crazy, and his hind leg was moving uncontrollably.

“No! Meeeehabel stooooop iiiiIIIIT, MEEEEEEEH!” His screaming sounded almost deer like, and he was laughing with tears in his eyes, trying to push her sister away.

Mabel then stopped and rolled on her back again, both of them staring at the ceiling. A few minutes later, Mabel heard a faint snoring and realized that Dipper had fallen asleep in an awkward position. It was unlike him to fall asleep so easily. She got up as quietly as possible, the pure white fur of her unicorn body shining in the moonlight as she changed her sweater for her pajama shirt, and went back to Dipper’s side with a blanket from her own bed. She lied down next to her twin and pulled the blanket over their bodies gently. They hadn’t slept side by side since the curse happened, often keeping Dipper up as he researched about said curse. It was nice, and her horn illuminated a warm, pink light before she fell asleep too with a small smile on her face.

## ~

The sun was almost set when Bill opened the door to the old shed he lived in. The familiar smell of humidity and rotting flesh filled his nostrils, making him wrinkle his nose in distaste. The door emitted a creaking noise as it closed, and he turned immediately to the stairs after putting the rifle down, planning to close himself up in his room for the night.

“William.” A voice growled by the time he had climbed halfway up the creaking steps. He flinched and got back down to walk slowly into the kitchen. The wooden house was dark, and the poor orange light hardly passing through the windows didn’t help one bit. A dense man was sitting at the kitchen table, plucking the corpse of a goose. It’s blank eyes seemingly staring into the void. Bill swallowed.

“Yes, Father?”

“You’re home late.” His dad said, not looking up at him. “I hope you brought something home with ya’.”

“Well actually…” Bill swallowed again, and the man just sighed, stopping his work.

“Sit.”

Bill immediately sat down on the chair on the opposite of his dad.

“What happened?” The man asked, still not looking at him. His dark brown eyes were hidden under thick eyebrows, dimples marking the always present sign of concentration or anger that plagued his face. Hairs on his cheeks displayed how he hadn’t shaved in a long time and he noticed the feathers now stuck in them. His shirt was covered in stains, some being that of the goose’s blood.

“Nothing!” Bill said nervously, “There wasn’t any prey in the traps, that’s all.” His eyes darted to a spot staining the wall behind his father. He couldn’t look into his dad’s hard, critical eyes. He never had been a good liar and he knew that the man could probably sense his lies from a mile away.

“Hmmmm. What did you do all day then?”

Bill knew the calm voice was only hiding an upcoming storm. He wish he hadn’t returned home this late, knowing all too well that he wouldn’t be suffering this interrogation now otherwise. “I just…wandered around. Y-You know, exploring, looking for tra―”

“You freed it again didn’t you?”

“W-What?”

“I can tell you’re lying. Did you catch something or not?!” There was sweat on Bill’s forehead now. He leaned over more closely in his seat.

“N-no, there was n-nothing in the traps! I-I swear!”

“You useless little―I didn’t keep you alive all this time for you to free my catches!”

“B-But I didn’t-”

“Stop stuttering and tell me the truth!” The man was towering Bill by over double his size as the boy hunched over in his chair, tears starting to shine in his eyes.

“I-I―” he sniffled, “I don’t like killing...I-I just can’t do it, dad!”

“Then you’ll starve to death and die! Is that what you want?! You want us to starve?! What are you gonna do when winter comes and you haven’t got anything to show for it? What will you do when you see that there’s nothing to eat in the storage? You think you’ll live on roots and playing with bunnies?!”

Bill was trembling and tears was falling down his cheeks. He was used to his dad shouting at him, but it never got any more fun than before.

Stone-like in front of his son’s sobbing, he took the boy’s chin to make him look at him, but Bill only cried even more, closing his eyes in fear.

“Whether you like it or not, as long as you live under my roof, you do as I say.” Bill nodded, quivering, and dashed to his room as soon as his father let go of him.

## ~

Bill was on his bed, hugging his blanket close. He was still shaking but the tears had stopped. It was in moments like this that he missed his mom the most. He never met her but he imagined finding warmth in motherly arms and falling asleep to reassuring whispers and lullabies. Ever since he could remember, his dad had been this way. Not caring about him and just being mean, the only reason he hadn’t already abandoned him was because he was the last reminder of his long gone wife. She died giving birth to him and the man had always blamed the boy for it.

Tears started to fall down his face again as he slipped on his side, snuggling his wet face in the pillow, crying himself to sleep.

 **  
** That night he dreamed about the forest and the warm sunlight. He was cuddled up in something soft, and he couldn’t tell if it was the mother-figure he had created for himself or if it was the furry flank of a certain deerboy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaah, I'm so sorry this is so short, but I really had trouble with Bill's dad... And yes ! Mabel is a unitaur in this monsterfalls au! To be honest I need her to be able to walk XD  
> Thank you so much for reading and I'll try my best to write more soon ^^


	4. Of course it's weird!

  
****  
** **

“Bro bro, wake up!”

****  
** **

Dipper groaned, covering his head with the covers, but Mabel grabbed the other end and pulled it off his body. The cold air made him curl up and he opened one eye to the half-unicorn towering over him.

****  
** **

“It’s almost 10! Dress up and come down, I made pancakes!” With that she galloped out the bedroom, her hooves resonating on the stairs. It took a minute for Dipper to wake up and register what Mabel just said. His eyes went wide.

_Oh no, 10 am? I have to go meet Bill!_ He got up and trotted to his closet but clenched his teeth when his hind leg throbbed with pain. _Right._ He threw the shirt he slept in in a corner of the room and pulled on a clean one as shook his head to make his hair look at least a bit more disciplined─to which he had little success─and placed his hat on, just between the antlers.

He made his way to the kitchen carefully but failed hiding his limping to the unicorn already sitting at the table. Mabel gave him a worried look.

“Something’s wrong with your leg, bro bro?” she asked as she placed a plate of pancakes in front of him. The smell made his stomach growl.

“Hmpf─I yust twishted ih in che fowesht yesherday.” He said, mouth full of tasty pancakes. He didn’t even have time to swallow it before his sister was by his side, raising his hind leg by his knee. He yelped and had to grab the table to avoid falling.

“Mabel, what are you doing?!”

“I’m checking on your leg, dummy.” She moved the articulation gently and Dipper hissed when it throbbed in pain. Mabel frowned.

“Mmh, it’s a little swollen too. Definitely a sprain.” She let go of his leg and ran out of the kitchen. Dipper heard hooves slamming overhead and before he could start eating his breakfast again, she was back in the room, raising his leg once more and wrapping bandages around it.

“Sorry, I can’t use my magic to heal that kind of injury yet. I still need to figure it out... Hmm... There! That should keep you from moving it too much.”

“Thanks, Mabes!” He turned back to his pancakes but choked on the bite he took when the unitaur added,

“And no wandering around the forest for you today.” Dipper coughed harshly. When he finally caught his breath, he gave his sister a pleading look.

“What? No, Mabel! I really need to go into the woods today!”

“What for? You need to rest your leg Dip Dop, or it’s gonna heal wrong.”

****  
** **

“Your sister is right.” Came the grating voice of their great uncle. He was standing at the kitchen entrance, a mug ‘Best Grunkle’ Mabel made for him a while ago in his hand. He took a sip and looked at Dipper. “You’ll do you’re exploring another day. I need you healthy so you can work, and so that your parents won’t want to kill me more than they already do. They didn't really take the curse incident too well." He then gave him a look saying that he didn’t want to repeat what he said the night before.

Dipper looked down and chewed on his pancakes slowly.

“I just... wanted to study something I saw in the journal.”

The old man raised an eyebrow but then shrugged.

“Er─It’s your leg kid. Do what you want.” Dipper’s face brightened and Mabel shot Stan an angry look.

“Grunkle Stan! He needs to rest!”

“Come on Mabel, I can take care of myself. I’ll be careful, I swear!” He gave his sister the puppy dog eyes that worked so much better in his new form.

Mabel tried to ignore it for a moment but failed.

“HhhhhhhhhhhhrrRAH!! Alright! You’re cuteness is too much for me to handle.”

Dipper grinned and stood up to put his plate in the sink, then to kiss his pouting sister on the cheek.

“Thanks, Mabel!” The deerboy went upstairs to grab his backpack before running back to the door, slowing up when his grunkle gave him a disapproving look. He smiled and scratched the back of his head.

“Bye! I’ll be back before dinner, I promise!” And with that he was gone.

****  
** **

The gargoyle stared at the door for a moment and chuckled.

“What’s going on in that kid’s head, eh?”

Mabel shrugged, biting into her own pancakes that were covered in edible glitter and syrup.

“I just hope he doesn’t run blindly into nasty stuff again…”

~

Bill was waiting under the shade of a tree, at the same place he met the deer boy yesterday.

It had already been two hours, and the kid was starting to think Dipper would never come back.

He thought they had bound some kind of friendship yesterday. He really liked the monster kid and was really curious over all the mysteries Dipper was carrying with him. _Did I scare him? Maybe Dipper hates me now. Oh my god, what if he hates me? Maybe he will never want to see me again. No one ever wants to see you…_

He sighed and slid against the tree he was leaning on, head hidden in his crossed arms. His vest would be ruined but he didn’t care.

****  
** **

His dad shook him awake this morning before throwing him outside so he wouldn’t be in his legs all day. The old man smelled like alcohol again and Bill didn’t need to be told twice before heading to the woods.

He was so excited about meeting Dipper, but after a while, the deer boy still didn’t show up.

A rustle of a nearby bush made him raise his head. He looked in the direction of the sound expectantly, and a bunny dashed in front of him. Bill relaxed and sat back on the tree, the rough tree bark digging in his back painfully. His short night catched up on him and he fell asleep.

****  
** **

The faint sound of hooves hitting the grass woke him up, he felt air blowing on his face and he opened his eyes. Big brown doe eyes met his own and the face they belonged to was very close to his.

He snapped out of his sleeping state and yelped as he backpedalled against the tree, hand clenched on his heart.

“Hey Bill!” Dipper shooted, a wide smile on his face. Bill exhaled in relief and passed a hand through his hair.

“Gosh, Pine Tree. You almost gave me a heart attack there!” He smiled at the deer boy but then crossed his arms and pouted.

“You’re awfully late.”

Dipper looked guilty at that and reached a hand to Bill’s shoulder.

“I know, I’m so sorry! I woke up late, and then my uncle wouldn’t let me go, and then I had trouble finding the way…” Bill kept looking away from him. “And to be fair, my leg makes me walk slower.”

Bill glanced at said leg and his irritated expression changed to one of worry when he spotted the bandages.

“Oh no, is it this bad? I’m so sorry!” He got up and sat next to Dipper’s hind leg, checking on it. The cervitaur lied on his side, the upper half of his body leaning against the same tree Bill was sleeping on a few minutes ago.

“Nah dude, it’s cool. I just need to avoid using it too much or my sis’ is gonna kill me.” Bill snorted.

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh, I was just picturing a mermaid trying to strangle a deer…” he answered as he sat down too.

“Hey! And plus, she’s not a mermaid, she’s a unitaur.” Bill shot a confused look at Dipper.

“A unitaur? What’s that?”

“A bit like me she’s a centaur, but half unicorn half human.” Bill looked even more confused now.

“But, didn’t you tell me she was a mermaid?”

“I did but─" Dipper searched through his backpack and got out the weird book with the gold-ish, six fingered hand on it. "─something happened when we tried to find a cure.” He opened the book near the end, the two pages were covered with blue notes and illustration, some of them being the sketch of a river and human mutations. The sketches were a bit unskillful but Bill was amazed anyway.

“Wow!” He took the journal from Dipper’s hands. “You drew this? It’s amazing! Boy, you’re so good!”

Dipper frowned when the book was taken from his grip but blushed at Bill’s compliment.

“Erm─Thanks, it’s not that good but, I keep trying…”

“Not that good? I've never seen anything like it!” He handed back the book to the deerboy. “So, what were you saying about your sister?”

Still blushing at the blatant, but seemingly innocent compliments, the boy cleared his throat before talking again.

****  
** **

“I spend lots of time trying to find a cure with Mabel by my side. After a few experiences, I found something in the journal that might have changed us back. The book says that unicorn hair has the ability to keep away and repel dark magic and evil entities...So me and Grunkle Stan went into the forest to find said unicorns, and when we got back I made-”

“Wait what happened with the unicorns?” Bill interrupted.

Dipper coughed. “...Grunkle Stan punched them in the face.”

“Oh.”

“...Anyway, when we got back, I experimented with the hair along with some samples of the fluvius. At some point, I thought I'd found something, but I needed to test it, and I couldn’t take the risk of making things worse for someone, only…”

“Let me guess. Your sis’ touched it.”

“She _drank_ it.” Dipper lowered his face in guilt. “I should have been there to prevent it…”

****  
** **

~

_Dipper had spent the entire time after she drank the cure by her side, asking her if she was alright every five minutes. She kept assuring him that she felt okay, and honestly, it seemed that way as nothing changed on her appearance at first. They thought that maybe it didn’t do anything after all, or maybe they needed to wait like when they first transformed. Dipper ended up passing out from exhaustion after a while. He was woken up by splashing sounds, and by feeling his fur being soaked in cold water._

_“Dipper, wake up!” He jumped awake on trembling hooves and looked up at his sister who was leaning on the side of the tank with her arms and… hooves?_

_Now wide awake, the fact that his sister didn’t have the lower half of a fish, but the one of a horse, left him speechless. It was difficult to see in the dark but he could spot the white fur, shining hooves and long, curled, end of a tail floating. When he looked up at Mabel's face, he noted the pointy horse ears and the… horn? on her forehead._

_She was a frikken' unicorn._

_“DipDop, you gonna stare at me all night or help me out of here?”_

~

****  
** **

“Oh.” Bill repeated when Dipper stayed silent then.

“Yeah.” Dipper sighed.

“How is she taking this? Being a uni- unitaur, I mean.”

“She’s way happier than when she was a mermaid actually. At least now she can walk around on her own. She can even do magic.”

“Magic? Really?”

“Yeah, she’s been trying to learn healing magic for a while, and she’s already pretty good at it. Look, my bump from yesterday is gone.” Dipper lifted his locks from his forehead to show Bill, exposing his smooth skin and his birthmark. Bill had forgotten about this.

“Oh, it’s true! You got the big dipper on your forehead! That’s where your name comes from, right?”

Dipper was prepared for the blonde to laugh at him, but Bill just smiled.

“You don’t think it’s weird?”

“Duh, of course it’s weird! but it’s not a bad weird!” he hummed thoughtfully. "...It's a good kinda weird. I mean, just 'cause it's weird doesn't make it a bad thing, right?"

Dipper stared at Bill in silence, scanning his freckled face. Then a genuine smile grew over his face and he rolled onto his back, hiding his face in his hands. Bill chuckled and laid down next to the deerboy, smiling at the clear sky.

All was silent besides the wind in the leaves, and he closed his eyes and listened to the forest.

****  
** **

“So,” Dipper broke the peaceful silence, “if I may ask, why are you wearing an eyepatch?”

Bill gulped and rubbed the eyepatch self consciously. He sat up and wrapped his arms around his legs.

“It’s because… my eye is… it’s a bad thing.”

Dipper sat up too, confusion on his face.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

Bill slowly untied the eyepatch from his face and looked deathly serious at Dipper.

Where the eyepatch was before, there was now an unhealthy eye. It was a really clear blue, reminding Dipper of the height-altering crystals he found in the forest not so long ago. The blue contrasted the liquid gold coloring the other iris. The abnormality of Bill’s eyes was fascinating, and Dipper couldn’t help but think it was beautiful. Bill looked down to the ground.

“My dad thinks it’s not something that should appear on people. It’s a bad thing and that’s why I’m hiding it.” He raised his hands to put the eyepatch on again, but Dipper put his own hand on his, stopping him from doing so.

“Bill, it’s not a bad thing, you don’t have to hide it.”

“B-but it’s weird. I'm weird…” Bill said dejectedly.

“Hey,” Dipper pushed his eyepatch to the ground, and gave a shy smile to him, “...just 'cause it's weird doesn't make it a bad thing, right?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was sooooo stuck on this chapter... but I managed to write it finally ^^


	5. Royal pillow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so, so sorry for the long wait guys. But college is killing me with work, and hum... I wasn't really in the mood to write recently... Well, Im really sorry again, enjoy !

Bill’s eyes were suddenly shining with tears, his lower lip shaking slightly.

“H-hey dude? Bill? Why are you crying? Did I say something wrong?” Pine Tree was panicking and didn’t really know what to do. Bill sniffled and wiped his nose with his sleeve.

“You didn’t say anything wrong Pine Tree…” he sniffled again and sighed, he tried to stop crying, but the tears kept blurring his vision, so he just closed his eyes and let it rain freely, softly sobbing in his hands.

Dipper gulped and looked at him with empathy. He never knew what to do with crying friends and he felt uncomfortable. What would Mabel do?

He slowly crawled to Bill, taking the boy in his arm by the waist and hugged him silently. he felt Bill stiffening in his embrasse.

“W-What are you doing?”

“I’m hugging you dummy.” he said with a blush.

“Huh?”

“What? You never hugged someone before?” Bill sniffled and shook his head.

“I-I like it.” He rubbed his eye. “What is it for?”

“Seriously? well, it’s a way to comfort people, to show them they are not alone, show their affection, stuff like that…”  Bill blushed and gave a shy smile to the deer boy before burying his face in Dipper’s chest, the warmth emanating from the boy making him feel safe.

“I think it’s working…”

Dipper and Bill stayed in this position silently, the cervitaur gently rubbing circles in the other boy’s back.

Bill’s breathing calmed after a while, but he stayed in the warmth anyway, it felt nice.

“Erm- So…” Dipper said, starting to feel a bit uncomfortable in the situation.

Bill let go of Dipper’s waist and rubbed his eyes with his sleeve again. He put his arms around his legs and sighed.

“Hu… You wanna... talk about it?”

The blond glanced at Dipper and gave him a shy smile.

“Well, it’s just… No one has ever been this nice to me… My dad always told me my eye was a curse and that I mustn’t show it or use it. Ever. Or it would summon terrible things on us.”

“Dude, no offence but your dad is just saying bullshit.”

Bill glanced at Dipper with confused eyes.

“I don’t know, I always thought he was right… it's dangerous.”

Dipper put a hand on the blond’s shoulder, making Bill look back at him.

“Bill. I can tell you having eyes like that can’t harm anyone. Look, you showed me your eye and nothing bad happened right?”

The boy stayed silent but then shook his head.

“See? There’s nothing to be afraid about. Heterochromia is really something beautiful.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah” Dipper answered with a smile.

They both went silent after that. But it was a good kind of silence. A silence where you feel comfortable and you just enjoy each other’s presence. Bill was smiling now. Eyes red and puffy, but smiling anyway. He never saw things that way before meeting Dipper. Seeing almost no one but his dad during his whole life made him believe everything the old man said to him. It was strange, that everything he was sure of was suddenly filled with doubts now that Dipper was his friend.

He really enjoyed when the cervitaur ‘hugged’ him, he wanted to do it again.

 

Bill poked Dipper’s forehead.

“So why are you hiding your birthmark under your hat?”

Dipper pulled the hat further on his bangs, feeling uneasy when the blond touched his forehead.

“I don’t want people to see it.”

“Why? It’s rad!”

“I used to be really proud of it when I was a kid. Mabel and my mom told me it was something incredible and rare. I thought so too. But when I went to preschool, the other kids started bullying me for it.”

Bill raised an eyebrow.

“What’s bullying?” Dipper looked at the other boy with surprised eyes. Bill was really ignorant of lots of things he should know about.

“It’s hum… when someone harrasses you for being different. It’s a really bad thing and it can go really far. From being called names to be beat up.”

Bill’s eyebrows furrowed, he seemed like something clicked in his mind, but then he gave a worried face to Dipper.

“Did that happen to you?”

Dipper gulped.

“Yeah, well mostly it was oral harassment, I just ignored it. It’s when it went too far that my parents made us move out and I started hiding my birthmark under a hat. I never had trouble with it again after that…”

“Wow… I didn’t think kids could be rude like that…”

“They can be ruder than grown up people sometimes.”

## ~

“Slow down Pine Tree! You’re gonna hurt your leg more!” Bill said at the cervitaur walking fast in front of him. Dipper huffed but slowed down a little, letting the blond catch up with him.

After lazing around for a while Dipper suggested Bill to go for a walk in the forest and have a look at the Fluvius Cantatis. Bill had been really excited and had grabbed the deer boy’s hand to walk deeper in the forest,  only for Dipper to tell him it was to the other side.

Now it was Bill who was lagging behind. Despite his injured leg, the cervitaur seemed to be way more comfortable walking through roots, rocks and bushes. After having been in the body of a deer for a good time now, he was more dexterous when walking in the woods.

Soon the forest went less thick, letting the light pass through more easily, they could spot the stream in the distance.

Bill immediately runned to it, making Dipper panic and shoot when he failed grabbing the blond's shirt.

‘No no!  Bill WAIT, do NOT TOUCH IT!”

Bill stopped right next to the river and turned to the limping deer boy.

“Duh, don’t worry I wasn’t planning on it.” Dipper walked next to him, panting.

“Please don’t do that again.”” he said with an exasperated tone.

“Wow you didn’t lie when you said it was crystal clear!” Bill said, hands on his hips, looking at the calm, sparkling under the sun stream.

Dipper frowned at it and pulled a phiale from his backpack.

“It’s deadly welcoming.” He leaned his hand to the water to fill the phial with it and tensed when Bill leaned above his shoulder to watch him.

“Seriously Bill, I would be more comfortable knowing you are farther from the bank.” He said worryingly. The blond immediately sat down, completely straight and his legs crossed under him.

“Sorry I’m not moving see?” Dipper smiled and shook his head, turning back to fill the phial again.

“Isn’t it dangerous for you to touch it again?”

“No, we tried to jump in it to see if it would change us back, but it doesn’t do anything. And I don’t want you to try, we have enough monsters to deal with already. I don’t even know what you would change into, it could be dangerous!”

Bill bounced excitedly.

“Oh yeah! Maybe I could change into a… a… Vampire! Or a deer guy! Like you!” Dipper snorted and  pushed the stoppered phial in his bag.

“It’s really not fun, believe me.” The blonde crossed his arms and pouted.

“I’m sure I would rock as a vampire.”

Dipper rolled his eyes. He glanced at Bill when he heard him exclaim :

“Hah- ah!”

Bill had picked up two branches from the ground and stuck them on his head with his hands, like antlers. He got up and puffed his chest, walking around in a pretentious manner.

“Behold the prince of the forest. Bow before me you tooth pick!” He said pointing at the deer boy.

Dipper stared at Bill before bursting into laughter and rolling on his back. The blond kept imitating the walk of a buck, before turning to Dipper.

“What? Are you mocking me, little furry bean? Well you’ll see…” He lowered his head, in an imitation of the way deers provoke each others. “En garde!”

Dipper smiled and got up on his legs, before lowering his head too, accepting the challenge. His hoof scratched the ground a few times.

Careful not to injure his leg more, Dipper trotted to Bill before gently connecting his forehead with Bill’s.

“Boop” he said. The blond then made a very fake cry of pain before dramatically collapsing on the ground.

 

“Ow I was defeated! And by a ridiculous little bean. Good bye.” Then he closed his eyes and let his tongue out in a last breath. Still giggling, the cervitaur layed down next to Bill, trying to catch his breath after laughing so much. He looked at the boy’s face change from ‘dead’ to ‘trying not to snort when doing a prank’. Dipper booped the blond’s nose.

 

 “Wake up your majesty!” Bill opened his golden eye and grinned, “That’s a nickname I could get used to.”

Dipper snorted “Don’t you even dream about it.”

 

Bill giggled again and rolled a bit so his head was resting on Dipper’s flank. The cervitaur tensed and shuffled away, causing Bill’s face to hit the ground.

“Ow, hey!”

“You need to stop doing that dude. I’m not a pillow.”

“Stop denying, you are extremely comfy Pine Tree.”

Dipper huffed in annoyance crossing his arms on his chest.

“Don’t you know about personal space?”

“Yeah, this is our personal space! So share a little and let me sleep on your stomach.”

“That’s not how-”

“Please”

“No.”

“Pine Treeeeeeeeeeee”

“Wha-” Suddenly Bill was scratching a very precise spot on the side of his deer belly and his hing leg went completely crazy.

“BI-BILL NO STOP IT- HahahHAHAHAHahAH” But Bill kept tickling the spot furiously, grinning like an idiot until Dipper made an inhuman deer like noise.

“MEEH”

It echoed in the forest then and there was a silence, Dipper staring at the trees above him, and Bill staring at Dipper. Bill then started puffing and Dipper’s face turned red, his hands on his mouth.

“This, ah- never happened.” His face was now a dark red. Bill grinned down at him.

“Okay, but only if I can lay on you.” Dipper eyed angrily at the blond.

“Deal.”

At that Bill reached his hand out and Dipper hesitantly shook it in his own. He sighed and layed down again resiliently, reaching out for his backpack and opening the journal to read it.

Bill contently rested his head on Dipper’s soft side, it was warm, soft and reassuring. He wanted to ask the deer boy if this kind of thing happened often but Bill was too happy to lay on the boy to annoy him and make his pillow go away. He contemplated the event of the morning and sighed happily. The warmth of Dipper’s fur and the sun rays made his eye heavy with comfort.

Everything was perfect.

Dipper glanced at the boy who started snoring on his flank. How can this kid fall asleep so easily?

He sighed. He still felt a bit uneasy with this whole situation. Bill was weird. And there was lots of thing about him that was still a mystery to Dipper. He knew that they only met the day before, and not in a really casual context either. Maybe this was going to fast, and he should be more wary before letting himself being closer to Bill. But, just seeing the boy’s peaceful sleeping face, so innocent, he knew nothing was wrong with this.

 


	6. Mabel investigates !

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aw guys, I am so sorry for the long wait ! College is really taking me time... I'll try to update at least once a month..  
> I feel like the story is getting pretty slow/boring, but dont worry, shit is getting real next chapter >:3

****

Days passed and the forest slowly turned into a rusty wasteland, the hot air of the summer chilling temperatures. September was here, and the kids were going back to school for a new year, though not all kids weren’t going back to school this year. Returning to class with newly grown fur, claws, scales or fangs was just out of the question.

Dipper thought about being homeschooled with Mabel, but Grunkle Stan had pushed the idea away, saying the issue wouldn’t last too long and that he needed them to work in the Mystery Shack. That way, they would be able to have their parents visit them. Mabel screeched happily and Dipper shrugged it off, glad to have a reason to spend more time with Bill.

The two boys had grew really close in the past few weeks, seeing each other almost every day. Sometimes Dipper had chores to do and Bill had to stay back to do whatever it was he was doing at home with his father. The cervitaur’s leg was now fully healed and he could run and jump in the forest with no problem. Again, often challenging the blonde into races or simply running after each other like children despite his fresh recovery. Bill had managed to remind Dipper what actually having fun meant. He had spent his entire summer studying Gravity Falls and trying to find a cure that he forgot about the fact that he really needed a break. He hadn’t searched for a cure since he met Bill and he wasn’t even worried about it anymore. The other boy made him realize he was indeed just a kid, and having so much weight on his shoulders wasn’t healthy.

Mabel and Grunkle Stan were starting to get more and more suspicious over Dipper’s behavior as well. The boy seemed less tense and paranoid over nothing, humming to himself, smiling when staring into nothingness, and spending entire days outside without giving a clue as to where he was going. When they asked him about it, he quickly answered it must have been the new season beginning and that he was just looking for mysteries. Grunkle Stan just shrugged and returned to counting his money but Mabel had furrowed her eyebrows, tail twitching in frustration.

Dipper was hiding something and she knew it. He was spending so much time in the forest alone. What happened to the mystery twins? She could get why he would go alone when she was a mermaid, but now she had even more limbs to walk on than necessary. But despite this, he always went out early without warning anyway. She was starting to worry Dipper was doing something dangerous, and what kind of sister would she be if she didn’t protect her little brother?

And it was for that reason why, today, she had woken up early to wait for Dipper to sneak out in order to follow him out secretively into the chilly air of the forest.

Dipper was trotting cheerfully between the trees and bushes, unbeknownst to that fact that he was being followed. He seemed to know the path by heart and Mabel could see his comings and goings from the lack of grass were Dipper had stepped. The half unicorn tried to make her steps as light as possible while staying far behind her brother so that he wouldn’t spot her. Her unicorn side had given her a much more gracious way of moving without even realizing it. That, coupled with beautiful hair and the ability to move on her own again, she was also the wielder to magic powers from her horn that she was still trying to control.

Dipper slowed his pace and so did Mabel. He passed through a line of trees that marked a small clearing, and she stayed hidden behind a thick bush so she could watch without being seen.

The clearing wasn’t large and was covered in dead, rusted colored leaves. Dipper looked around, visibly expecting someone or something. When it didn’t come he sat down and looked in his backpack and pulled out his… gameboy? He then layed down and started playing whatever game was in the console.

Huh? That was it? Dipper was going in the woods everyday, _to play video games_?  Mabel frowned. That couldn’t be it. There must have been some kind of reason. _A good one._

_Crack._

Her ears lifted up and so did Dipper’s. He put the gameboy on the ground, and got up, looking around again, but with worry this time.

“Bill?”

Bill? Who’s that?

“Bill, is that you?”

“HAAAH”

Mabel jumped in surprise when a blurry, yellow form jumped on Dipper’s back, making him screech in a deer like cry. Her heart still beating fast as she was about to run out of her hiding spot to save her brother, but stopped herself when Dipper exclaimed.

“What the heck, Bill? D-don’t do that ever again!” He was clenching his heart and breathing heavily. ‘Bill’ rolled off his back and was laughing hard on the ground, holding back tears.

“No, but seriously dude! You almost gave me a heart attack, here!”

“Haha―! you should have seen your face―hahaAHahaHA!!” Bill said, holding his side while pointing at Dipper’s red face.

Mabel was just staring, not registering what was happening before her eyes. _A boy_? So that’s why Dipper sneaks out all the time? To see a boy?

“ _Oh my gosh!”_ she scream-whispered, both hands on her wide grin.

The boy named Bill calmed down and sat up, wiping a tear from his eye. His shoulders were still shaking from giggles, making Mabel giggle too. The blonde boy looked about the same age as her and her twin, wore a yellow shirt, black pants with boots that had laces that went halfway up calfs, and a- _oh my god was that a freaking GUN on his back?!_

The hairs on the back of her neck raised when she went back to full protective sister mode. Why did that guy have a gun? Now that she registered that information, the boy looked like a little hunter, with his vest and his laced boots. What was Dipper even doing with him? Hunters weren’t the kind of people Dipper liked to spend time with since his transformation. If anything, they tended to make his fur ruffle. He visibly wasn’t from Gravity Falls, and she had never seen him here before. Plus, he was human. She turned her attention back to the two boys, chatting.

“Now Bill, I think you’re gonna like this…” Dipper grabbed his gameboy still on the ground. Bill jumped on his crossed legs.

“Oh! Oh! What is that weird box, Pine Tree?”

“It’s not a box, silly! It’s a gameboy.”

“Oh right…” he frowned, “I still don’t know what it is.” he said looking at Dipper with confused eyes. He looked like a lost animal to Mabel.

“It’s okay, I’ll show you.”

With that, Bill sat closer to her brother while he showed him how the device worked. Bill placed his rifle and backpack on the ground behind him and leaned in closer to watch.

Mabel stayed there a little more, observing the human and her brother happily playing dumb boy games and laughing. The human didn’t seem dangerous after all. Paranoid like Dipper was, if he was friends with that boy, it must mean that he was trustworthy.

Smiling to herself, she trotted nimbly back to the shack, glad her brother had found a friend.

~

“I’m back!”

Dipper trotted to the stairs to go into his bedroom but a stony form blocked the way.

“Not so fast, kid. You’re on chores tonight. The shop won’t restock itself on it’s own.” growled the gargoyle. His eyes were glowing with a fierce seriousness that effectively stopped the deer boy in his place. Dipper sighed and his ears flattened.

“Alright…”

Walking into the shop, he launched his backpack carelessly into a corner of the room and grabbed a box with his arm that he moved next to a shelf. He hadn't spot the unicorn counting the money earned that day behind the register until she cleared her throat. He jumped at the sound and bit his tongue.

“Ow, Mabel?” he asked, a hand on his mouth. His sister didn't look up at him and kept organizing the money on the counter.

“Soooooo, how was your day, bro-bro?” she asked oddly cheerily, a big fat grin on her face.

Dipper turned back to his work, organizing question marked mugs from the box onto various shelves.

He gulped when he mumbled, “M’day was fine.”

“Was it?” Mabel finished counting the money and placed it back in the register. She turned to him then, leaning on the counter positively cheery. “What did you do?”

“‘Explored.” he responded back suspiciously

“Sounds exciting.’ she chirped.

“Yeah…”

There was a silence then as Dipper kept organizing goodies on tables, frowning. Mabel’s tail was waving in frustration and excitement. A minute passed then and Mabel let out a loud squeal, making Dipper jump again in surprise. She ran to him and shook his shoulder.

“HAAAAAAH!! FINE, I’M TALKING!!!” She screamed “I KNOW!”

Dipper’s ears flattened at how loud she was screaming. He took her hands off his shoulders.

“What? You know what?” His eyebrows were furrowed in confusion now.

“I know you have a boyfriend!” She said, her hands leaving Dipper’s to cover her mouth, hiding her huge smile.

There was a little moment where Dipper said nothing. Then, he slowly registered what his sister had just said to him and his eyes widened in horror.

“Y-You what..? No! I don’t―You can’t―How?!”

 

His breathing grew faster and he pulled on his ears frantically while mabel was just jumping in excitement and making a piercing giggling noise.

“Mabes! MAbel!” She stopped and turned to him, still grinning at him. “Don’t be that loud, please.” He said desperately as his hands moved down to illustrate his demand.

“Aw, don’t worry Dip Dip! I won’t let anyone know that you got a booooooyfrieeeend.”

“Shhhh, Mabel!!  And he’s not my―Hey! How do you even know about him?!”

She lowered her gaze, in guilt.

“I followed you this morning…”

“You―Ah man, Mabel- why?” he asked, trying to catch her sight.

“I was worried about you, okay?” her face darkened in anger. “Why didn’t you tell me Dipper? You’ve been hiding this for months! I’m your twin! you know you can tell me anything…”

Dipper then took her in his arms and squeezed her lightly.

“I’m sorry, Mabes. It’s just that… I was scared you wouldn’t like Bill... And also that you wouldn’t stop teasing me about it.” She snorted at that. He released her from his embrace and looked at her straight in the eye.  “Please don’t tell anyone.”

“Why not? I mean, it’s just your friend. Nothing bad about him, right?”

Dipper sighed and sat down, Mabel imitating him as a hand came up onto his shoulder.

“Well, he’s a human… And you know how weary Grunkle Stan can be sometimes. I mean, Bill is a hunter’s son.”

“Pfft, so what? It’s not like he tried to shoot you!”

When Dipper stayed silent, she looked at him with wide eyes.

“Right?”

The deer boy gulped.

“Well…”

“Dipper!”

“He missed! And plus, he thought I was a simple deer! I fell in a trap and Bill freed me. That’s how we met.”

Mabel relaxed and patted him on the shoulder.

“Aw that’s adorable, is that where your sprain came from?” She asked a bit concerned.

“Yeah, a snare.”

“KIDS, I HEAR A LOT OF TALKING AND NOT A LOT OF RESTOCKING!”

They both jumped at their Grunkle’s loud and rough voice. Dipper tensed and got back up, resuming organizing the mugs and snow globes. Mabel stayed sitting, deep in thought.

There was only the sound of Dipper’s hooves and the items being placed in the shop for a moment. The cervitaur could feel a knot forming in his stomach. He was worried of what Mabel was thinking about his friend. He was worried about his grunkle. He was worried he would never see Bill again.

“He’s nice.”

Dipper’s ears flicked up at Mabel’s sudden commentary, relief flooding in his chest.

“Yeah, I’ve never met someone as nice as him before. Well, besides you.” he added at Mabel’s look. She giggled.

“Aw, you guys are so cute.”

Dipper didn’t answer, concentrating on his task, but he was startled when he felt a warm breath on his cheek.

“You’ve got a boyfrrriiieeeeeend…!” He pushed the unicorn’s face away with a hand, his cheeks turning red.

“Arg―Mabel, no! I’m not gay, and I’m too young for this anyway! Bill and I are just friends.”

“Says the guy who had a crush on Wendy for the whole summer.”

“MABEL!”

## ~

It was cold in the room. Cold and dark. The only light coming from the moon was barely shining through the heavy clouds. The rain was splattering on the window, the noise covering the small sobbings of the blonde child as he curled up on his bed.

Body shaking from both the cold and the crying, Bill was holding his hand over his right eye. It was difficult to see it in the dark, but under the hand, a dark bruise could be seen. It was swelled and Bill couldn’t open it without it throbbing in pain.

When he had got home today, he had realized he had forgotten his eyepatch in the clearing he met Dipper at everyday. He hadn’t had time to run upstairs before his father had entered the living room and spotted him in the doorway.

Knowing what was coming, Bill had braced himself and closed his eyes, trembling already.

His ears were still whistling from the shouting, and his neck was sore from how he had been grabbed by his collar. But it was nothing compared to the pain he felt from the right part of his face. It had been a single punch, but his dad had made sure he wouldn’t be able to use his damn eye for a while.

Bill was tired. He just wanted to sleep forever and find his mother again. It was all unfair. He didn’t mean to be born this way. He hadn’t meant to kill his mom... He hadn’t meant his birth to take her away.

Bill’s sobbings grew louder as he hugged the thin sheets to his chest. He layed on his back, looking at the wood of the ceiling while drops of water fell on his face quietly. He made his breathing deeper, trying to calm himself down while not wanting to wake up the man sleeping on the couch downstairs.

He then tried to think about what made him happy. He thought about the forest. He thought about the sun rays warming up his skin. He thought about the leaves under his feet.

He thought about Dipper.

 **  
**_Yeah, everything will be okay_ , he had thought as he fell asleep.


	7. A ride home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise update ! I hope you guys are ready ! *evil laughter*
> 
> (dont expect an update for a while though XD)

Bill woke up shivering. He had moved a lot during his restless sleep, and the covers were tangled on the ground next to his bed. The pain growing in his face made him remember what had happened the night before and he lifted his hand over his swollen eye with a small whimper.

He looked out through the window. The rain had stopped, leaving the forest ground glistening in trails and the bare trees hardly visible through the obscure fog. The poor insulation of the window and walls allowed for the cold to seep in carelessly and he shivered violently once more.

Pulling on an old sweater he found in his closet, he slowly opened the door, trying not to make a sound as it had a tendency to creak. He flinched when it did anyway, feeling dumb for thinking it would be any different. The shed was old after all and tended to be noisier than he would like. Holding his breath, he waited for a sign of movement. ...But when nothing came, he breathed out in relief, closing the door behind him.

He looked down in the living room from his spot upstairs. His father was snoring loudly on the couch, his arm hanging above the floor, and an empty can of beer next to his limp hand. He must have collapsed after drinking too much as usual, but Bill was positive nothing could wake the man right now, not even his growling stomach.

Nevertheless, he still took careful steps while walking over to the kitchen. When he got there, he opened the fridge.

Beers. Lots of beers.

He took one to put on his injured eye, the icy surface making him exhale shakily. He reached for the packed bacon in the back of the fridge and opened the plastic bag before shoving the meat in his mouth. His stomach growled again but this time in satisfaction.

Munching a little more slowly, he put back the can of beer in the fridge before closing it. The door shut with a ‘thump’ and all the glass bottles in it clacked together, he flinched at the sound  again, turning his head to the couch.

The old man growled and turned, but, to his relief, didn’t wake up. Holding his chest, Bill could feel his heart pounding. Throwing the now empty, plastic bag inside the trash can, he quietly rushed out the door and into the woods, not even bothering to take his gun with him.

## ~

His feet were wet from splashing into puddles that seeped through the fabric of his boots, but he didn’t mind it, anything was better than home.

He breathed in the fresh air around him deeply, letting it clear his head as his fingers were starting to become numb. He rubbed his hands together before placing them in his pockets.

It didn’t take long before he reached the same clearing from before again. Nothing had changed since yesterday besides the barren winter trees. Only the Pine trees had remained the same and he smiled as he thought fondly of his friend. That’s when he noticed then the eye patch lying beside a fallen trunk and his smile fell. He took it in his cold and trembling hands. It was torn from all the years he had worn it, and soaked from the rain. A wave of anger and frustration rose in him and he threw the item with all the force he could gather in his skinny, little arms. Tears started to fill his eyes again, the one in his injured eye pooling inside, making it sting even more. He slammed his fist on a trunk nearby and cried in pain. His knuckles were bleeding now as the splinters dug into his skin almost painfully, the cold bite of december numbing it marginally. He began to sob as he rested his forehead and hands on the trunk he had just abused, feeling bad for hurting it.

“Bill?” He turned his head to the voice swiftly, hurting his tense neck with the sudden movement,  and his sobs turned into audible cries as he fell to his knees, tears and drool dripping from his face.

He heard trotting, and there were hands on his sore shoulders then, reassuring him with warmth passing through the fabric of his sweater.

“P-pine Tr-tree” he managed to hiccup in between sobs while burying his face into Dipper’s chest.

“What the heck happened to your face?!” Dipper asked in a panic, his voice quivering in genuine concern for his friend.

The hands on his shoulders moved up to caress his cheeks, gently raising his head and grazing the swollen skin under his thumb, barely touching it. When Bill flinched and cried even more, he withdrew his hand back to Bill’s chin, the hot tears trailing down it.

“Oh my god, you’re freezing...” Bill felt himself being pulled into his warm embrace, arms around his own and a hands rubbing small circles into his back. He buried himself into his warmth even more, letting the more than welcome feeling of being cared for, that of which he’d been craving, soak into the fibers of his very being. The hand on his back moved to his hair then, running through his blonde locks. Bill caught delicately, whispered words like “ _Shhh, it’s okay_ ,” and “ _I’m here now, you’re okay_ ” over and over again, almost like the other was chanting them into a sweet melody. Dipper was rocking them both gently, much like the way one would to calm a  small child or infant. Bill let himself relax into the swinging, the calming whispers hushing his dark demons.

Once his crying had died down, they stayed like that, the silence only broken by Bill’s occasional hiccups, and Dipper’s consistent words of comfort.

Bill had stopped shivering, but he didn’t want to move; he didn’t want to leave the cervitaur’s warmth. He wished they could stay like this forever, alone, warm and safe.

“Bill,” Dipper whispered. “What happened to you?” Bill’s grip tightened around his friend’s waist before looking down, his sight blurry with tears.

“It’s nothing..” he mumbled “I fell.” He felt Dipper sighing, his chest rising and falling against his cheek.

“Bill.” Dipper squeezed him lightly. “Tell me what happened. Please,” he added looking down at him.

Bill sniffled and took a few minutes to make out the words to say anything, but Dipper waited patiently, petting his back the entire time.

“I―” hic, “I―forgot m-my eyepatch―” sniffle, “―here yesterday.” He took a shaky breath. “I didn’t realize it u-until My fa-father―” more hiccups, “H-he...”

Dipper’s embrace tightened around his body. “Did he do this to you?”

Bill hid his face in Dipper’s shirt and slowly nodded, the arms tightening even more.

“...Did it happen before?” he nodded again. Even though he knew Dipper was angry, the cervitaur kept talking calmly, gently rocking him.

“Come on, we can’t stay here. It’s cold and you’re hardly dressed for such weather...” Dipper said after a few minutes of silence, retracting from Bill so he could look at him but still hold him.

“W-where are we go-going?” He asked as he rubbed his good eye, wiping the remaining tears away.

“We can go to my home.” Bill immediately shook his head at the suggestion.

“My dad―he’s gonna kill me...!”

“He doesn’t need to know. You’ll be back before sundown if you want.”

Bill sniffled and whispered “Okay…” Dipper got up, untied the scarf he had around his neck and wrapped it around Bill’s. He then reached a hand out to him.

“Come on climb on.” Bill’s golden eye widened.

“Wait, really?”

Dipper nodded “We’ll go faster if I trot us there, and you’re in no shape to walk.”

“I can walk on my own...” Bill insisted but took the offered hand to help him up anyway, his legs shaking under his weight. It became obvious that he was lying when he almost fell forward on the deer boy. Dipper gave him a look indicating just that. “Okay, okay! Let’s go for a ride then.”

Dipper gave him a little smile and lowered his body onto the ground so Bill could climb up on him. Bill got on carefully and wrapped his arms around the other’s neck securely, feeling fuzzy inside from the comfortable feeling. He was so _warm_. It made him grin softly.

When he was settled properly, Dipper rose, walking forward in the direction that he came from.

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Bill asked with a yawn, his head leaning on Dipper’s shoulder, the late sleep he got last night weighing down on him suddenly.

“Yeah, I’m okay with it. I’m actually used to it since I used to carry Mabel around everywhere when she was a siren. You can take a nap if you want, I don’t mind.” Bill nodded again, burying his face into the soft scarf and resting on Dipper’s shoulder. It felt...strange, being on the deer’s back like that. He could feel the bones and muscles moving under him, and the regular pace of

Dipper’s trotting added with the warmth slowly lulled him to sleep.

**  
  
**

It was the noise of hooves on wood that woke him up about 20 minutes after he fell asleep. He peeked through his good eye to see that he was on the porch of a big wooden shack. Dipper opened the front door and stepped inside, unaware that Bill had woken up. Too tired to move, Bill stayed still on Dipper's back while he walked slowly, trying not to move too much so he wouldn’t disturb him. They entered what seemed to be the living room where there was a TV in the direction he was looking and he felt himself slide from Dipper’s back to the side and fell on something soft and comfy. He realized it was the couch when he stretched his sore body numbed by the cold and opened his eye again.

“Oh I’m sorry If I woke you up,” Dipper whispered softly. “Mabel is out for a sleepover and my Grunkle is sleeping like a stone at this hour. Can you take off your boots please? I’ll be right back.”

The cervitaur trotted out of the room and Bill sat up, doing as he was told. Untying the laces he slid his boots off his feet. He folded his legs before him and took them into his arms, resting his chin on his knees and shivering slightly. Burying himself more into the back of the couch, he closed his eyes and listened to the noises Dipper was making from the kitchen. A mix of hooves on wood, and dishes being moved around. He took in his surroundings then. The room was almost entirely made of wood, save for the bottom half of the walls being in smooth stones. There was a TV like the one his dad owned and a... _giant dinosaur skull table?_ on the right side of the couch, as well as an aquarium with a strange blue creature in it. The house smelled like pine trees and old furniture.

Dipper came back into the room then, two mugs of hot cocoa in hand and a blanket on his deer back. He handed one of the mugs to Bill and wrapped the blanket around him carefully. He was about to climb on the couch too when his gaze turned to Bill’s legs.

“Your socks are wet,” He said simply and placed his mug on the skull. “I’ll go get some of mine, since you know, I don’t need them anymore.” He laughed his embarrassment away while walking out of the room. “I’ll be right back! Make yourself at home.”

His friend was gone before he could even ask if he could come with him. He was feeling a bit uncomfortable being in an unknown house, and now he was yet again alone in an unfamiliar room. Sipping the liquid from his cup idly, he sighed in contentment at the taste and heat. He heard Dipper’s hooves on the stairs and then silence. He was grateful for the blanket Dipper gave him and also for the socks because he was just now realizing how much he was freezing.

It was then that he heard a door creaking upstairs, and it was not hooves he heard then, but a loud slipping sound, going at a regular pace and coming closer and closer. The stairs creaked loudly with each ‘step’ and he hid his face behind the blanket, only peeking his eyes out. He placed his mug next to Dipper’s. The sleeping sound was close now. He knew whatever it was was right beside the door now. He glanced to it with fear and there he saw a dark form, wings and a tail and claws, sharp teeth and bright glowing yellow eyes.

Bill’s eyes widened and he sucked in a breath, a low growl emitted from the creature and the thing stepped inside.

A grey gargoyle in striped boxers, glasses, and slippers walked into the room. It seemed old and grumpy, with a big belly. The thing scratched its butt and walked in front of the couch without turning to Bill, it mumbled/growled incomprehensible things and Bill realized the slipping sound he heard earlier was the slippers of the creature.

Bill stayed there, mouth agape and holding his breath the whole time. He breathed out when the creature disappeared into the kitchen. The blonde was about to get up to discreetly join Dipper upstairs when the thing came back into the room, a cup of coffee in his stony, grey hand.

Bill froze in his place when their gaze met. The cup fell to the floor, breaking into several glass shards while the burning liquid covered the wood and the gargoyle’s feet. But the thing didn’t seem to care; It just glared intensely at the intruder.

“ **Who the heck are you?!** ” Bill jumped out of his daze at the deep and loud voice. He wanted to answer, but no words came out. The monster shortened the distance between them and he grabbed Bill by his collar, effortlessly lifting him.

“L-let me go!” Bill had managed to say. His legs were swinging in the air, kicking the thing’s belly with his feet, but it didn’t seem to disturb the stone monster in the slightest.

“ **Who are you and what are you doing here?** ” The thing asked again, tightening his grasp on the boy. Bill was sure he was gonna end up eaten in the next minute.

“What the hell? Grunkle Stan! Put him down! _Now_!!” The gargoyle turned his gaze to the cervitaur in the entrance, and looked back at Bill.

“Please don’t hurt me―” the blonde said with a trembling voice. ‘Stan’ snorted and lowered him down in the couch again. Bill pushed himself into it as far as possible and away from the gargoyle.

“ **What the hell me? What the hell him!** ” Stan gestured to himself and then Bill while facing the cervitaur. Dipper walked in and handed the dry socks to the trembling boy and pushed his grunkle away from the couch.

“His name is Bill and please stop shouting Grunkle Stan.”

The gargoyle lowered his voice a bit. “ **Bill?** ” Dipper nodded.

“Yes, he’s a friend of mine and he needed help so I took him home, don’t be angry at him please. He’s done nothing wrong.”

Grunkle Stan let out a growl and turned to face the boy on the couch. He lowered himself on a knee and flatted his bat wings on his back. His glowing gaze scanned Bill’s face suspiciously. His eyes seemed to stop at Bill’s bruised right eye and then his human body while Bill was putting on the socks Dipper gave to him.

“ **Eh, I’m sorry kid. ‘Thought you were up to no good.** ” He reached his hand to the blonde. “ **I’m Stanley Pines, Dipper’s Great Uncle. But you can call me Stan.** ”

Bill took the hand and was surprised at how gentle the grip was as he shook it. “It’s okay, I’m Bill.”

“ **You’re human** ,” The old man stated, “ **how come you know Dipper**?” Said cervitaur climbed up onto the couch next to Bill, his legs folding under him and his human half resting on the back of the couch and the other boy.

Bill took the mugs on the dinosaur skull and handed Dipper his, who took it and started drinking the hot liquid gratefully.

“We met in the forest a few months ago. Bill lives there with his father.” Dipper explained and Bill nodded at Stan. Said gargoyle nodded and walked to the kitchen to take a rag and wipe the coffee still on the living room floor.

When he was done with the task, he looked up at Bill.

“ **What happened to your face?** ” Bill looked down at his feet, noting the socks had deers printed on them. He hugged his legs and said nothing. The deer boy next to him squeezed his bicep.

It was Dipper who talked then.

“Bill has… issues with his dad.”

Grunkle Stan stayed silent for a moment and then exchanged an understanding look with Dipper. The gargoyle growled a bit as he got up and walked out of the room to go upstairs.

“Where is he going?” Bill asked softly, slightly raising his head from his knees. Dipper shrugged, having no idea what his great uncle was up to.

“You should drink your cocoa before it’s cold.” Bill nodded and took long sips of the hot liquid, letting himself relax with the warmth of the beverage and the heat radiating from Dipper’s deer body pressed against his side.

They both drank in silence until they heard Stan coming back downstairs. He walked to Bill with a white tube in his hand. The gargoyle kneeled in front of the kids and pressed the thing to pour the transparent liquid on his fingers. He reached his hand to Bill’s head then and Bill backed away.

“W-What’s this ? It looks like snot.”

“ **Aloe vera, it’s gonna ease the pain and help the bruise heal.** ” Bill turned his head to Dipper and he smiled at him, nodding. Bill relaxed and closed his eyes.

The cold feeling of the ointment on his bruise made him sigh in relief. Once again, the gargoyle was being extremely gentle, careful not to hurt him.

The gargoyle got up once he was done, and walked to the kitchen before turning and giving him a serious look.

“ **You can stay all you want kid.** ”

## ~

Bill slept in Dipper’s bed for the rest of the morning.

The cervitaur had seen how much the blonde was yawning, including the bag under his uninjured eye. Concerning his right one, you couldn’t spot anything under the purple bruising.

The cervitaur was now in the kitchen with his Grunkle, his deer body in a sitting position while his head was resting on his crossed arms on the kitchen table. The gargoyle was sitting on the opposite side from him as he sipped his coffee from new mug. They were both silent, Dipper’s eyebrow furrowed in concentration.

It was Grunkle Stan who broke the silence.

“ **Is this kid the reason why you’ve been disappearing almost everyday for the last few months?** ” Dipper looked up at his the gargoyle and nodded before lowering his gaze.

“Sorry ‘bout that..” he mumbled.

“ **Naaah, it’s okay, kid. You’re free to see whoever you want to** ,” his grunkle said as he waved his hand. “ **He won’t be any trouble for us though, right?** ” Dipper knew he was talking about the monsters of Gravity Falls. No human had entered the place since the curse happened, thanks to some help of the authorities, and they were currently trying to find a solution to the money issue due to their quarantine. Grunkle Stan was scared Bill would spread the news around.

“No, he lives in the forest with his dad and they don't go out much. I don’t think he’s ever told him anything.” Stan grunted at the mention of the guy.

“ **His eye, did this happen before?** ” Dipper shook his head.

“It’s the first time I see him injured like that. Sure sometimes he had a few bruises but he blamed it on his hunting trips.” Dipper’s hands tightened in fists. “He told me it wasn’t the first time though.”

“ **When does he have to go home?** ”

“Preferably before sundown,” Dipper shrugged, “but I would rather have him stay here than go back over there.”

“ **Mmmh,** ” Dipper lowered his head in his arms again, an expression of worry on his face as his ears fell flat on his head. “ **Listen Dipper,** ” The cervitaur didn’t look at him, but his ear twitched in the direction of his grunkle’s voice. “ **You’re going to walk your friend to his home tonight and you won’t let his father see you.  Once you’re back, we’ll look for a solution okay?** ”

Dipper smiled at the old man, “Thanks, Grunkle Stan.”

“ **Aw don’t mention it, nothing is done yet.** ” he said with a serious face, his eyes glowing a little brighter. “ **For now try to give your friend as much support as you can okay?** ”

Dipper nodded with a determined face, and got up. “I’m gonna see how he’s doing.”

“ **Good, I’ll make lunch. Do you know what Bill likes to eat ?** ”

Dipper stopped in the doorway and scratched the inside of his ear, seeming thoughtful.

“Do you think you can make pancakes?” Grunkle stan raised thick eyebrows behind his glasses.

“ **Pancakes, huh? Yeah sure. I’ll cook us brunch then.** ” Dipper smiled and started climbing the stairs.

“Cool, thanks ! And try not to put your hairs in it this time.” The gargoyle laughed and got up to start cooking.

**  
  
**

Dipper slowly opened the door of the attic, getting just his head in the room. Bill was curled up on his bed, covered by 3 thick blankets while cuddling the deer plushie Mabel got him for their 13th birthday. Dipper’s ears lowered and he smiled as he walked next to the bed. But as he got closer, he noted Bill’s furrowed eyebrows, the twitching fingers and the irregular breathing. Bill was mumbling in his sleep.

Dipper could recognize a nightmare when he saw one, so he lowered himself to the floor, put his hand on Bill’s shoulder and shook him lightly.

“Bill, wake up.” The blonde didn’t stir and only whimpered some more. “Bill! Snap out of it! It’s just a dream…!” Bill eyes shot open and he gasped loudly.

“P-pine Tree ?” Bill’s eyes were glassy and full of fear.

“Hey, hey!” Dipper said as he stared into Bill’s eyes, “It’s me. You’re okay...Just a nightmare.”

Bill sighed and sat up, shaking slightly. “‘M sorry..”

“No need to apologize dummy, ‘s not your fault. Come on, it’s lunch time!” Bill’s stomach growled in response and the blonde blushed. “Man, when was the last time you ate something?”

“Well, I had some bacon before joining you this morning…” Bill said as he got up. Dipper handed him a sweater and they walked to the door.

“Hmm, nah, that won’t do. Just wait until you taste my grunkle’s pancakes! It’s not as good as Mabel’s but he’s decent at what he does.”

Once in the kitchen, they both sat at the table where plates of eggs, sausages, and pancakes were waiting to be eaten. There were stars shining in Bill’s wide eyes, making Dipper giggle.

Grunkle Stan came closer to the table to put another steaming pancake on the already huge pile. He was wearing a pink apron and cooking gloves, surely belonging to his sister.

“ **Go on kid, suit yourself.** ”

“Thank you Mr. Gargoyle!” Bill said as he reached to grab the first pancake from the plate, but he stopped when the gargoyle growled.

“ **Arr―No ‘mister’s with me kid, please! It ‘makes me feel old.** ” Dipper snorted and his grunkle gave him a look, silencing the deer boy who was munching on his eggs with a smile.

“Sorry mis―Stan.” The gargoyle grunted in contentment and poured himself another cup of coffee. Bill took a bite out of his pancakes and Dipper could swear he saw his pupils swell in wonder.

“This―This is the best thing I’ve ever eaten in my life!” He said before stuffing more into his mouth.

“ **Wow, slow down there, kid.** ” Grunkle Stan laughed.

“Yeah, you didn’t even put any maple syrup on it.” Dipper said as he poured said syrup on Bill’s plate. Bill took a new bite and moaned at the wonderful taste. Both monsters laughed at his reaction. The rest of the morning went without trouble and they all ate their brunch in cheerfulness.

**  
  
**

They spent the day telling each other stories and lazing between the living room and Dipper’s room. They took naps and just enjoyed being together, but eventually, the end of the afternoon came and Bill had to go back home.

They were in the entrance of the Mystery Shack, shoving on coats and scarfs. Bill patted his pocket and gasped. Dipper looked at him worryingly.

“What is it?”

“My eyepatch, I can’t go home without it!” Bill said as his hands grasped his blonde hair.

“Oh no! Maybe we can try to search for it in the clearing?” Bill shook his head panicked.

“I-I don’t even know where I threw it!”

“ **Stop worrying kid, you can have mine.** ” They turned to the Gargoyle walking into the room, his eyepatch that he used to wear during tours in hand. He gave it to Bill and the boy took it gratefully.

“Thank you so much.” He said in relief.

“ **Baaah, don’t mention it… Come on kids, it’s time to go.** ” He reached out his hand to Bill. “ **I hope we’ll see each other again soon. It was nice to meet you.** ”

Bill took the huge stony hand in his tiny one and shook it. “Me too Mr. Garg―Stan.” The gargoyle then turned to his nephew after Bill walked outside to the porch.

“ **Be careful out there, kid.** ” Dipper’s eyes reflected Stan’s serious gaze and nodded, ears flicking upwards. He then turned around on his hooves and joined Bill in the chilly air of the snow covered forest.

The sky was colored with pink and orange and they walked in silence. Nothing needed to be said between the two, and Bill was enjoying the sound of their steps on crumbling leaves, his footsteps making much more noise than Dipper’s light hooves.

It took them half an hour to reach Bill’s shed. This part of the forest was darker and thicker and it gave Dipper the creeps, the hairs on his deer half ruffling.

They stopped a few meters away, hidden behind the pine trees marking the edge of the clearing. Bill reached for his pocket and tied the eyepatch above his injury and around his head. He sighed and closed his eyes.

“Are you sure you wanna go in there? You could hide in my room you know…” Dipper asked worryingly. Bill opened his eye and smiled at Dipper.

“Hey, I have lived in there for 13 years. I can do it.” He said with confidence in his voice.

“Alright… Still. Be careful okay?” The cervitaur said, his ears flat on the sides of his face.

“I will be, Pine Tree.”

Bill was about to walk away when Dipper wrapped his arms around the blonde, hugging him tightly before taking off into the woods, leaving a blushing Bill on his own.

His face being flushed too, he was running as fast as he could to rejoin the shack when a scream made him curb suddenly. His ears were flapping in all direction to try to detect where the sound had came from.

Then he heard it, a voice he knew all too well, but this time it was stained with fear.

“DIPPER!”

He immediately took off in the opposite direction. He was sure he’d never run so fast in his life, because in one minute he was back at Bill’s house. The door was open, and he busted in.

“ _Bill?!_ ”

Bill was kneeling beside a wooden couch, new tears in his eyes. Then Dipper spotted the still hand in front of the boy and he paled, walking on quivering legs to his friend.

“D-Dipper, he-he is―”

 **  
**Behind there was a very pale and very still man, head lying in a pool of dark red blood.


	8. 14 Years Earlier

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hundreds of thanks for tumblr user @aslongaswehavepastaswellsurvive for betaing the 2 new chapters despite the fact they were sick. GO REST. I hope you'll like the chapter and while you are reading I'm gonna go hire body guards...

_   It was late summer in Gravity Falls, the sun had dried up the grass, trees, and fields, coloring them with a yellowish shade. The heat was such that the streets were empty. Everyone had stayed home, were napping under the shadow of the trees, or crowding the frozen food aisles in stores. All except for _

_ the two young people lying in the straw of the barn. They didn’t seem to mind the suffocating heat, and were even cuddling, whispering sweet words to each others. _

 

_ The woman was thin, golden blonde hair showering on her back and reflecting the color of her golden eyes. She wore a lavender blue dress, with blue flowers printed in the end covering her tights. _

 

_ She was held in big muscular and hairy arms. The man was big and tuff, square jaws covered by a three days beard. He was wearing a white and dirty sleeve, old jeans, had short brown hair and had thick eyebrows above his sky blue eyes.  _

  
  


_ He tightened his hold around the blonde, nuzzling his face in her neck. _

  
  


_ “Do you love me?” He whispered. The woman giggled and shook her head. _

  
  


_ “Of course I love you. More than life itself.” She put her hand on his cheek, caressing the soft beard.”. He made a bear like growl of affection and snuggled closer. _

 

_ “You should leave before my dad sees you here, you’re gonna be in trouble again.”  _

 

_ “HA, I ain’t scared of him. I’ll just have to run and kidnap you another day.” She giggled and kissed him softly. “Nothing can keep me from protecting the ones I care about Lucy.” _

 

_ “And nothing will keep me away from you Daniel.”  _

 

_ The couple stayed curled up in each other’s arms, the warmth making them sleepy. But their peaceful sleepy state was interrupted when a gunshot resonated in the barn. Daniel straightened up to see a man, pointing a smoking rifle right at him.  When he saw the man pressing the trigger again his eyes widened and he jumped on Lucy to protect her. _

 

_ “Stay away from my daughter ! Cipher.”  _

 

_ The man shooted again and Daniel heard Lucy gasp under him, she pushed him off herself and he fell on his back, the blonde waved her arms in front of her in a stopping gesture. _

 

_ “No dad! STOP!”  _

 

_ Another shot was heard, followed by glass breaking. Daniel raised his head and saw that Lucy’s dad aimed the petrol lamp and that fire was invading the barn fast. _

_ He got up and grabbed his mate’s arm as fast as he can, dragging her to the back of the barn, the man not stopping shooting despite the situation. _

 

_ “Don’t touch her you little brat!” he said as he followed them. _

 

_ Lucy’s shoutings went unheard with all the gunshot, and the smoke made it hard to see and breath. _

 

_ “I’ll get you Cipher!” _

 

_ When the young man realized they were cornered between the wooden wall and an armed man determined to kill him,  _ and  _ murderous fire. He didn’t think twice and shoved himself on the wall. Fire was licking the wooden plank already, and after four tries the wall gave in. He grabbed Lucy ran outside by the hole he just created. They both ran without looking behind them, Lucy panting heavily. It was only when they heard a loud cracking sound that they turned around, only to see the barn collapsing  on itself, releasing all the black smoke that was stuck inside of it. _

 

_ They held their breath 2 seconds, 10 seconds, 20, 30, but no one emerged from the burning wooden carcass. When Daniel heard Lucy’s soft sobbing, he wrapped his tuff arms around her and petted her hair, not saying anything and just being here for her. _

##  ~

_ Lucy was sitting on a fallen log, catching her breath. She sighed and contemplated her surrounding. The forest was calm and illuminated, the only sounds birds and the repetitive ‘stomp’ of a hammer. With all the wood Daniel chopped, a clearing was forming around the almost finished little wooden shed. Lucy smiled to herself.  _

_ When Daniel came out from the inside of the shed, she smiled at him, extending her hand in front of her, and he took it in a sweaty and calloused hand before kissing it. _

 

_ “Are you feeling alright, my love?” _

 

_ “Worry not, I’m just resting a little that’s all.” He sat on the log next to her, still holding her hand. _

 

_ “I can take over from now on,” he said as he put his other hand on the young woman’s round belly, “you need to rest and not overwork yourself.” She chuckled at that and pushed his hand away gently. _

 

_ “The baby is fine Daniel, and so am I. We still have a few months ahead of us.” Daniel shook his head and nuzzled her in the neck. _

 

_ “Come on Lucy, the house is almost done, I can finish on my own.” She pressed her cheek to her shoulder at the tickling sensation and said nothing else, knowing nothing would change her husband's mind. _

 

_ “It’s beautiful isn’t it?” Lucy said after they had let the silence feeling the clearing. She felt Daniel nodding against her shoulder. _

 

_ “It really is, the spirits found us the perfect place to raise our child.”  _

 

_ She chuckled.  _

 

_ “You and your spirits of the forest…”  _

 

_ “But it’s the truth!” He said, extending a hand to show their surroundings. “They are all around us, and they’ll always be there to protect us, as long as we respect them and the forest.”  _

 

_ “If you say so,” she said, chuckling and kissing him on the lips. Daniel resumed caressing Lucy’s belly.  _

 

_ “You’ll see, we’ll be safe here.” he said as he gently rested his head on her stomach. _

 

_ “You’ll be safe.” _

##  ~

_ Thunder was splitting the dark sky above the damped shed. The rain hitting the windows were making so much noise it covered the cry of the newborn child resting on the sweating and panting woman’s chest. _

_ Daniel rushed to the well to soak a piece of cloth, before coming back to the bed and gently rubbing it on his wife’s forehead. _

 

_ “How are you feeling honey?” There was clear worry on his face, more than Lucy had ever seen on Daniel’s features. She coughed. _

 

_ “The baby-”  _

 

_ “He’s fine my dear.” He said has he took the wrapped up newborn in his arms again. “It’s a little boy and he’s perfectly fine.” _

 

_ “A little boy…”  _

 

_ “Yes, please dear, stop talking. You need to-” _

 

_ “Daniel,” she cutted him, grabbing his arm gently with a trembling hand “we both know… I won’t make it.” _

 

_ “No, Lucy, don’t say that, please. You’ll be fine-” _

 

_ “Daniel-” _

 

_ “YOU’LL BE FINE!” Lucy stayed silent an instant, surprised by Daniel’s sudden shouting at her, he never did before. The shouting provoked the baby to start crying again and it was the only sound beside the rain and Lucy’s raspy breathings.  _

 

_ “Daniel,” she said again, her voice gentler. “C-can I hold him?” Daniel raised his head and looked at her with glassy eyes before nodding and carefully handing the baby into his wife’s arms. _

_ She lifted slowly the cloth from her now calmed son’s face, falling in adoration. _

 

_ “My baby boy,” she said as she placed a gentle kiss on the baby’s forehead. “My beautiful baby boy… He- he’s wonderful Daniel…” _

 

_ But Daniel was leaning on Lucy’s form, his hands joined together, repeating in loop ‘ _ you’ll be fine you’ll be fine you will be fine you will be fine… _ ’  _

 

_ It broke Lucy’s heart to see her husband like this, to know she would live him and the baby alone. She wanted to resist, to hold onto life as long as she could, to fight. But she could feel it leaving his body little by little, numbing her senses and her thoughts. There wasn’t much time left. _

 

_ “D-Daniel.” _

 

_ The man stopped his mumblings to look up at her, tears menacing to spill out. “Yes?” He answered as he gently caressed her forehead and hair. _

 

_ “P-promise me-” she coughed hard and her next sentence was barely audible.”Promise me you’ll protect our son.” _

 

_ Daniel seemed confused at this, his thick eyebrows frowning. “But- Of course sweetheart, of course I will protect him.” She smiled and closed her eyes. She reached a trembling hand to his hairy cheek. _

 

_ “Thank you… I love you Daniel.” _

 

_ “And I love you too Lucy, more than life itself…” He kissed her and they stayed forehead against forehead.  _

 

_ “Protect him Daniel, love him for me. Protect our William...”  _

 

_ A single tear ran down her cheek as she took a last raspy breath. And as fast as if she was falling asleep, she was gone. _

 

_ Daniel lifted his head slightly, looking down at his wife’s face. He shook her shoulder gently. _

 

_ “Lucy, Lucy open your eyes..” He shook her harder, his voice coming in broken sobs. “Lucy. L-Lucy! No, please come back, don’t leave me, don’t leave me alone.  _ Please! _ ” _

 

_ Daniel wasn’t someone who cried a lot, even as a kid, he had never cried when hurting himself and had always started with a blank face at death. But that night he had cried so much the dark clouds outside raining water falls seemed suddenly dried out. Wailings and broken sobs could be heard in the shed, as the broken man cried his heart out from the emptiness it suddenly felt. _

 

_ It was the sudden whining cry that made im lift his head from his defunct love. He took the fragile package in his trembling arms, slowly stroking it to calm his cryings down. _

 

_ “Ssshhh William, everything's okay. Dad is here, dad is here…” The hushing whispers seemed to calm the baby down, and Daniel took a closer look at him.  _

 

_ From under the cloth, soft baby blonde hair showed up, clear freckles covered his cheeks and nose. Soft pink lips were twisted in a grimace of discomfort, from being pulled out so soon from his warm nest to the real cold world. Daniel managed to smile despite his sorrow, and tightened the cloth around the baby so the warmth wouldn’t escape, and the baby relaxed, exhaling softly. _

 

_ Then the baby opened his eyes. _

 

_ Daniel stared into them with his own wide ones. One eye was the brightest gold Daniel ever witnessed just like Lucy’s. The other, was clear blue.  _

 

_ Thunder resonated, making the walls tremble and he almost dropped the package. He looked down in horror at the smiling baby blinking at him and another loud crack made itself heard. _

 

_ “You-” he held the baby in his hands extended. “You did that-” Shaking his head, he looked at the still form on the bed. “The spirits they-” he looked back at the baby and placed him on the table fast as if it burned, as he backed away holding his head in his hands. “It can’t be-” his voice was shaking again and louder. “You’re a curse, you killed her. You killed her you killed her you killed her you killed her-” _

_ Another crack and he started shooting at the ceiling “WHAT?! HAVEN’T YOU HAD ENOUGH? YOU WON’T TAKE ME TOO! I WON’T LET YOU!” Turning around he ran to the baby and took him in his hands again. The baby just smiled again, and Daniel rushed outside under the rain and the trees.  _

 

_ He ran and ran and ran, trying to escape the thunder that seemed to follow him everywhere. He ran into trees a lot, stumbling on roots.  _

_ He reached a clearing at some point. Looking around, he spotted a fallen log bent over another, leaving a dry area under it. He deposed the precious package under it, the baby looking at him with wide curious and innocent eyes. And without looking behind him, he rushed back from where he came from, ignoring the heartrending cries filling the night. _

##  ~

_ Hooves stepped lightly on the damped forest ground. It was still dark but the rain had stopped, letting weird whining cries wake up the sleeping doe who was resting with her fawn nearby. Curiosity had took over and she was now approaching the clearing from where the cries were coming, listening intently for any danger. The cries sounded helpless and distressed and she sniffled the ground, the scent of human almost gone under the one of the rain.  _

 

_ Then she found the source of the whinings. A small gesticulating creature wrapped in a white cloth was hidden under a trunk. She reached to smell it’s face -the only part of its body showing- and the thing stopped crying opening wide eyes at the giant snout blowing hot air on his cold face. It made a weird giggling sound then and the doe conclude this thing was no danger and was in great need of warmth and protection. Walking under the log with her own kid, she lied down and curled around the weird baby, taking a bit of the cloth it was wrapped in in her mouth to pull it closer to her. It caused the cloth to loosen and the baby freed its arms, reaching for the warm and soft fur.  _

_ The doe, busy giving her baby a bath, then reached for it and started licking it’s face. It laughed again and relaxed, burying himself further in the warmth, and let the sleep take over, instinct telling him he was safe. _

 

_ … _

 

_ It was only hours later, when the sun was rising, than the doe quickly lifted her head, footsteps having woken her up. She nudged her faun with her head and they bolted together in the the woods, leaving the still sleeping baby behind them. _

 

_ A huge and callous hand reached for the wrapped in dirty cloth boy, still sleeping peacefully, securely placing him in protective hairy arms.  _

 

_ “Come on William” the man said as he started walking away, “let’s go home.” _


	9. Bloody hands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY NEW YEAR, HERE IS A CHAPTER TO CELEBRATE  
> ALSO CHECK THIS OUT http://lifewhatisthat.tumblr.com/post/136390947346/the-official-fanart-to-lulus-fanfic-i-live-in-a

 

Dipper froze on his four legs, eyes wide as he stared at the man lying on the floor.

It was Bill’s sobbings that made him snap out of his daze. The blonde had cried so much during the day he was wondering how he could produce any more tears.

 

He rushed next to Bill and kneeled next to the man’s head. “I-Is he d-dead?”  Dipper reached for the guy’s neck with a trembling hand, and he waited for a pulse, holding his breath.

 

After a few seconds, a weak beat throbbed under his fingers. Then another. And another.

 

Dipper shook his head breathing out in relief. “No, he’s alive, just unconscious.” Bill’s sobbings resumed a bit harder and he started to hyperventilating.

 

Panic started to consume Dipper too, but he knew he needed to stay calm for Bill and his dad’s sake.

 

He got up on trembling legs and looked around, there was pieces of sculpted wood on the ground around them and he looked up. The part of the stairs ramp was missing and it seemed to have been ripped off. Looking down at the man again, he saw that the blood on the floor was coming from a wound on the head.  

 

“We need to put pressure on his injury!”

 

Bill nodded quickly, face wet and red, he raised his father’s head on his knees before putting his hands on the still bleeding gash. He was shaking and his breaths wouldn’t calm down, so Dipper kneeled next to him again and placed his hands on the blonde’s shoulder, making Bill look up at him.

 

“Bill, try to breath. It’s okay. Your father is gonna live. Just do what I do: inhale, exhale, inhale…” Dipper’s own words sounded panicked, but Bill still closed his eyes and tried to align his breathes in pace with Dipper’s. “There, it’s okay. You’re okay.”

 

The crying boy nodded. “‘M s-sorry-” Bill wanted to dry his face but he couldn't take off his hands from the wound.

 

“I think he fell from the top of the stairs,” Dipper guessed with furrowed eyebrows, looking at the rest of the man. He noticed that the left leg was bent at a strange angle and he shuddered.

 

“W-what do we do, Dipper?”

 

Both boys were in a panicked/shocked daze and it was hard to think. Dipper never had to face this kind of event before and he assumed that Bill hadn’t either. “W-we need to take him to the hospital.” Looking around he asked, “Do you have a phone?”  Bill shook his head, his blonde locks sticking to his wet cheeks and he tried to push them back with his shoulder. “Dammit..” Dipper swore. He took in a deep breath and looked at his friend.

 

“Bill?” The blonde opened his good eye at him. “I need you to stay here and keep the wound from bleeding out while I run to the shack to alert Grunkle Stan. Can you do that?” Bill’s eye widened in anxiety at being left behind but he quickly shook his head, and nodded anyway, sniffling.

 

“Yeah, just p-please hurry..” Dipper nodded, got up, and bursted out of the house, the sounds of his hooves getting quieter every second. The only sound remaining was Bill’s muffled cries.

 

“It’s my fault…”

## ~

 

Stanley Pines pinched the bridge of his stony nose. He was currently sitting in front of the TV but his mind wasn’t focusing on ‘The Duchess approves’ right now. Since the boy’s departure, left earlier he had been filled with dark thoughts and memories.

 

He had been surprisingly nice to the boy, even he could see that, but it might’ve been because he couldn’t help but see himself in the human.

 

Sighing he got up and stretched his wings, careful not to knock anything down with them.

 

Seeing the kid all wound up had made him boil inside, no child should be beaten up like that, especially by their relatives. A growl rose in his throat and he shook his head, quieting it down. His gargoyle’s instincts were waking up and he would have to keep it down before he murdered someone. Sure, he had issues with his dad when he was a kid, too. He got a few spankings during his time but not a _bloody black eye, holy hell_.

 

He headed for the kitchen to do the dishes when his sensitive ears caught the faint sound of hooves hitting the ground in rapid succession, almost as if urgent.

 

Something was wrong.

 

He turned around and dashed through the living room, but before he could open the front door the hooves were knocking the wood of the porch and the door was slammed over his face.

 

“G-GRUNKLE STAN!”

 

He fell on his bottom, pain emitting in his back but he ignored it. Dipper passed the door, ears flat on the sides of his face. He didn’t even seem to pay any mind at the position his Uncle was in. “STAN, _quick!_ We gotta-”

 

“ **Whoa there, kid** ,” he got up and looked straight into his nephew’s panicked eyes with his own glowing ones. “ **What happened?** ” He tried to keep his voice calm and steady but failed when it quivered with slight worry. Sure, Dipper could be a wimp sometimes but he **_never_ ** _knocked the damn_ **_door_ ** _down,_ much less disregard the fact that he knocked him down with the force of a bee colony.

 

“B-Bill’s dad! H-he’s wounded and unconscious! You gotta come and help us!!” Before he could react Dipper had turned around and ran in the forest.

 

“ **Kid, you** **―** **Arr!** ” He knew he couldn’t stop his nephew when he was in this state, so he got up and went outside. Once under clear, dark sky, he stretched out his stony wings and took off. It didn’t take too long for him to locate the running deer-boy―thanks to his night vision―and he swooped down, grabbing Dipper under his armpits and deer torso. The boy let out a fawn like screech and covered his eyes as they were gaining altitude again. He never had been a really great fan of heights, just like his grunkle used to be. The flying gargoyle shifted the cervitaur so he would be in a more comfortable position.

 

“ **Dipper,** ” he felt the soft ear shift against his arm. “ **Where are they?** ” Dipper uncovered his eyes and looked down, gulping. The wind was making his hair tangle up and his ears were flapping wildly in every direction. He seemed to look at the forest floor for a few seconds before pointing down over a distance.

 

“There―” he said with a trembling voice and hid his face in his grunkle’s arms again. The gargoyle could spot the light coming out from the inside of the far away shed and he swooped again when they were close enough.

 

His clawed feet hit the ground and he let go of the struggling cervitaur who ran into the house as soon as he was free, shouting Bill’s name in worry. Stan ran to door and entered the old shed, scared of what he would find inside.

 

Dipper was holding a shaking and crying Bill in his trembling arms, and he spotted the head of the bearded man resting on his son’s lap. The crying child was applying pressure on a wound in the old man’s head with hands that were covered in blood. He noted the stairs and the wood on the ground, as well as the coffee table’s bloody corner near the kids. He assumed what had happened right away.

 

He knelt in front of the boys, his serious and glowing gaze looking at the head injury and the tiny bloody hands. He thought for a moment before talking. “ **Bill** ,” a teary golden eye looked up at him. “ **I’m gonna take your dad on my back and fly him to the hospital, alright?”**

 

Bill sniffled and nodded. ” **We need to bandage up his head, and you are the only one with sleeves… Can I?** ” Bill nodded again, staying silent.

 

With a gentle claw, the gargoyle cut through the fabric around Bill’s shoulder, the blonde stared blankly in front of him. He had stopped crying. Stan took of the torn garment from Bill’s arm.

 

“ **Keep applying pressure while I’m doing the pansement. Yes, good.** ” Grunkle Stan tightened the blue sleeve around the man’s head. “ **You can take off your hands now.** ” Slowly, Bill removed his hands from under the sleeve and Stan tightened the thing even more, tying it behind the man’s head.

 

Dipper, in return, tightened his hold on Bill, silently giving comfort to his friend. Grunkle Stan stood up and, not without making a face of disgust, picked up the man and pulled him on his back with an inhuman strength between his wings, careful not to move the broken leg to much. He walked to the door, his footsteps even heavier with the additional weight.

 

“ **Dipper** ,” the cervitaur raised his head from Bill’s shoulder to look at him, “ **Take Bill home, and be careful. It’s already dark and I don’t need more trouble. I’ll be back soon**.” He waited for his nephew to nod before walking outside and taking off.

## ~

 

Bill dried his cheek with a hand but then realized his mistake when he saw that his hands were covered in blood.

His dad’s blood.

 Tears started to fill his eyes again and he sniffled. Dipper squeezed him in his hold but said nothing.

 

Bill was tired, his emotions had sucked him dry. He could hardly recall all that happened that day and all he wanted was to sleep and forget. His eyes were focusing and unfocusing, and he felt himself lean on Dipper heavily. His eyes were closed now and he realized that he was on the cervitaur’s back again. He heard comforting words being whispered to him but he couldn’t understand what they were or what they meant. He glossed over the thought as he dozed off a few times before he felt himself slipping from Dipper’s back, falling on something soft and comfy. He opened his good eye, eyelid heavy with weariness. Automatically, he thought he would be placed back on the couch like that same morning, but he was looking at an attic ceiling instead.

He heard hooves walking out of the room, and water running. Then the hooves were back and he felt something warm and wet rubbing on his cheeks and then on his hands, but he was too tired to flinch away. So he just waited.

Then he felt his soaked in blood sweater being slipped from his form, leaving him in his clean shirt. And finally when he was drifting away in sleep, he felt the mattress he was lying on shift and warmth curling around him. Opening his eye one last time, he saw that Dipper had curled up around his own fetal-positioned form. He rested his head on the warm fluffy flank, a weird sense of déjà-vu filling him, and everything went dark.

## ~

It was really late in the night when Grunkle Stan entered the Mystery Shack. Not a sound could be heard in the house. He stretched and his back made a satisfying popping noise. He glanced at the time in the kitchen. 00:34. The gargoyle had spend the entire evening at the made up hospital of Gravity Falls. After the curse changed most inhabitants into monsters, they isolated the town from the rest of the world. So all the doctors, nurses, and even some vets, reunited themselves to create a little hospital especially for monsters.

 It took a lot of time to fly the old guy to the building, warn the staff, and then wait for them to come up with a diagnosis. He had wanted to go home with something to say to Bill. He had stayed in the waiting room for hours, ignoring the people staring at him because of all the blood soaking his shirt. And maybe also because he wasn’t wearing pants come to think of it… But when he glared at them with his glowing eyes, they turned and looked away. Finally, the doctor stepped into the room. She was a half-human, half-spider lady, with a lab coat. She walked to him with her eight hairy legs, and chills shot through Stan’s body and down his spine.

 

She introduced herself as Dr. Darlene Peretti.

 

“ **How is he?** ” he asked.

 

“Oh, there’s no need to worry, sir,” she said in a nasally voice. “The wound on his head is superficial at best. Some sutures, a bit of tape and he’ll be good as new!”

 

“ **But the blood…** ”

 

“Head wounds always tend to bleed a lot more than you’d expect! You did well by bandaging it before coming here,” she smiled, but frowned a little. “There’s a strong possibility he’s been concussed, though. We can only assess the damage with a CT scan but unfortunately, we don’t have the equipment for it here in Gravity Falls. He’ll be put under observation for the next 24 hours for that.” Her lips turned down at the corners but Stan really couldn’t care less. Why was she even telling him this? He brought the guy to the hospital. His job was done! She could just tell him the guy was going to be okay and then he’d fly away.

 

She continued on, tapping at the clipboard she was holding. “The bigger issue is with his leg. Or rather his knee and ankle. X-ray showed a bimalleolar fracture in the left ankle, and a dislocated patella.” At Stan’s blank stare she laughed shyly. “He broke his ankle and dislocated his kneecap.”

 

“ **So you put a cast on, right?** ” he shrugged.

 

She sighed. “It’s not that simple, I’m afraid. Luckily, Mr.Cipher has no prior history of patellar injury so a posterior splint will do. His leg will have to be immobilized from 7 to 10 days and then he’ll have to attend physical therapy for at least 6 months. His ankle though is severely unstable and will need immediate surgery. I’ve already admitted him to the ward and we’re simply waiting for the swelling to subside...”

 

Stan kept quiet as the doctor kept rattling on and on about procedures, costs, how it was totally safe, yaddi-yaddi-yadda. The gargoyle wasn’t listening and honestly he didn’t think he’d understand even if he was. Did he look like a medical doctor to her? It wasn’t like it was his decision. He wasn’t the one who was gonna pay for the guy’s surgery anyway. All he needed was confirmation that Bill’s dad was going to be alright. Not that he particularly wanted the guy to be alright. He could be eating buttercups by their roots for the rest of his life and Stan’d be happy, but it would break the poor kid’s heart to know his dad wasn’t going to come home. He didn’t know why though, guy seemed like a total asshat to him.

 

 **“Er…** ” he tried, interrupting her medical spiel so he could leave. “ **Thank you ma’am, I’ll uh… I’ll head home so I can go comfort the kids..** ”

 The arachnimorph smiled at him and nodded. “Alright. We’ll give you a call when he wakes up or if anything else new happens. And just so you know, visiting hours are between 8 am and 2 pm. His poor son will surely want to see his father after all this.”

 

 “ **Yeah, thanks again** ,” he said before shaking her hand and turning around to find the exit. His smile dropped the moment his back was turned. _No way was the kid going to see that assface anytime soon_ , he thought.

 

He climbed the old wooden stairs to go to the bathroom but stopped in front of the twins’ door left ajar. Opening it slightly, the light from the corridor entered the room, revealing the sleeping kids curled up on the bed. He smiled and shook his head at Dipper’s cat like position, curled up around Bill’s form, while the blonde was resting his head on Dipper’s deer stomach.

He slowly closed the door, and walked to the bathroom quietly. There he pulled off his blood soaked shirt, he stared at it and threw it in the trash trash can, making sure it was hidden.

 When he was done taking a shower and changing, he flew to the roof, passing by the old trap door he pretended he didn’t know existed. He sat in silence, curling his tail around his legs and folding his wings tight against his back. He breathed the fresh night air and closed his eyes. He was petrified in stone by the minute, falling into a deep sleep that only gargoyles knew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, he is not dead.... I didn't even mean for you guys to think he was dead but, man you all thought he was ! HAHA, Bill isn't out of trouble yet!  
> Happy new year again !


	10. 'Dipcakes ! 20% deer hair'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a cute chapter to breath a bit between all the angst ^^ Bill needs to smile a little bit at least :p Again, thanks for nikethewolf who helps me find horrible ideas ( B) ) and @aslongasthereispastaswellsurvive for the amazing beta job they are doing *hugs*

When Bill woke up, he was disoriented. He didn’t remember where he was, or when he had fallen asleep here, or what that clicking sound was, or even what it was that he was sleeping on that just felt so warm?

 

Slowly prying his eyes open, he closed them again when pain erupted from the right side of his face. Realization rained down on him as he remembered everything, and he jumped awake, gasping.

He was blinded by a bright light and felt the warm form he was laying on shift. Dipper rolled on his back and stretched his four legs up in the air, as well as his arms, above his head.

The cervitaur groaned, still drowsy from sleep and opened an eye at Bill. They stared at eachother for a few seconds before Dipper broke the silence.

 

“Hey.”

 

“Hey, Pine Tree…” he answered and was surprised at how hoarse his voice was. Then he stretched and yawned. Dipper propped himself up on his elbows.

 

“How do you feel?” He asked with concern covering his features, still not moving his deer half from under the blonde. Bill sighed.

 

“Rested. But my eye still hurts.” His stomach chose that exact moment to growl, and he made a shameful grimace. “...And I think I might be a bit hungry…” Dipper smiled at him, his ears twitching when he heard noises and his sister’s voice from downstairs.

 

“Come on, let’s go get some breakfast.” Bill raised his head so Dipper could climb off the bed. He got up and walked out of the room, following his friend downstairs.

 

The smell of pancakes coming from the kitchen invaded his nose and he hummed in delight. Dipper entered the kitchen first and Bill heard him gasp. When he reached the door he saw his friend being crushed by a centaur girl with white iridescent fur, her human half looking a lot like his own friend’s, but a cascade of hair was falling on her shoulder instead, and she was wearing a bright pink sweater with blue and yellow balloons on it. A goldish pink horn was coming out proudly from her forehead, and her brazen smile was so bright it seemed that nothing could go wrong in the world.

When the centaur spotted her twin’s friend idly hiding behind the door frame, a huge smile split her face once again. She released Dipper, who took a deep and much needed breath, and practically bounced in his direction, producing a heavy series of clacking hooves. He took a few steps back as he gulped, intimidated by her cheeriness, and damn was she was pretty tall!

Catching his frightened gestures, she stopped bouncing and made her smile softer before reaching out a hand to him.

 

“Hiya! I’m Mabel! Dipper’s twin! Though I think you can tell who was born first between the two of us...” she said with a wink and he shook hands with her.

 

“Mabel!” He heard Dipper protest from the kitchen. “You’re only taller than me because of your transformation!”

 

“Bro, even when we were human I was the tallest.”

 

“One centimeter !”

She giggled and trotted back into the kitchen while repeating ‘ALPHA TWIN’ in loops. Bill walked into the kitchen quietly. It was pretty simple with its white wooden walls with pine trees painted on them, a table with unused chairs since the twins didn’t need them anymore, and a fridge and all of the essential stuff a kitchen needed. Stan was busy cooking, wearing a pink apron on top of his pajamas. Bill’s stomach growled again and he sat on the chair next to Dipper who was still grumbling stuff about size not being important and such.

Stan turned around, with a plate full of delicious looking steaming pancakes. “ **Who wants some Stancakes? This time they’re extra hairy.** ”

 

“We do! We do!” cheered Mabel as the gargoyle placed the plate in the middle of the table. The lighter-hearted twin rushed to put some on her own plate while Dipper filled his and Bill’s plate too much more reluctantly.

 

“I-it’s okay, Pine Tree. I’ll do it…” he whispered.

 

“Don’t worry, I’m just making sure you get some before Mabel takes all of them.” he answered as they eyed the unitaur stuffing her mouth with more maple syrup and edible glitters than pancakes. “Not that you’d be missing out on much.” Dipper smiled sourly as he spotted some hairs on one of Bill’s pancakes. He blew it off before the blonde could witness it though. Giggling, Bill started eating his own breakfast and quenched his hunger with a sigh of satisfaction. He felt something on his leg that startled him, looking down, he realized it was Waddles, Mabel’s pig Dipper told him about many time. Smiling at the really cute animal he took a piece of his breakfast and tossed it to the excited pig who catched it in the air.

 

Stan sat between each twin reading the news. When he saw that Bill was done eating and staring blankly at the maple syrup bottle, he cleared his throat, making the boy look up at him inquisitively.

 

“ **Did you boys sleep well last night?** ”  he asked with his usual gruff voice. Bill only nodded with a small smile before looking down again.

 

“Oh I bet they did….” The three males turned to a smirking Mabel.

 

“Oh no, I know that face.” commented Dipper suspiciously.

 

“What do you mean?” Bill asked, his blonde eyebrows furrowed, and he tilted his head. Mabel said nothing as she reached for her sweater to poke through it and pull out a photo she showed to the boys.

 

It was a picture of them, sleeping all curled up together and sleeping soundly. He saw Dipper blushing hard before trying to take the picture from the unicorn but she was too fast for him.

 

“Mabel! Give me that!” he shouted at her, becoming even more red-faced when she answered.

 

“What? No, that’s definitely going in my memories scrapbook. You guys are so cute like this!”

 

“Mabel! Come back here this instant!” In a matter of seconds, both hybrids were running after each other in the shack, making a cacophony of trampling hooves, giggles, and shoutings. Bill just tilted his head though again, not getting exactly what Dipper felt wrong about the pic, and he turned his head to the gargoyle who sighed while shaking his head.

 

“What am I gonna do with them ?” Bill shrugged, smiling faintly. Then he looked up at Stan again.

 

“Uh, Stan?”

 

“ **Yeah, kid?** ” Bill gulped, not sure if it would upset the man if he asked.

 

“How-how’s my father?”

 

“ **Oh, I’m really sorry, Bill. I should have told you right away. Your dad is fine, but his leg is in a pretty bad shape. The hospital told me he’s gonna have to stay there for a little while.** ” Bill released the breath he was holding in relief, but his smile changed into a mask of painted worry just as quick.

He was so screwed, so _sooooo_ screwed. He was pretty sure his dad was gonna kill him now.

Spotting the blonde’s wary face, he gently grabbed his shoulder with his stony hand.

 

“ **You can stay here as long as necessary. I’m pretty sure Dipper won’t mind giving you his bed. He can sleep on the couch or in the guest room.** ”

 

“Are you sure Si―Stan ? I can just go back to the shed. I don’t wanna be a bother, and I’m used to living alone for prolonged periods at a time.” Stan’s eyebrows furrowed, and Bill could swear the glowing of his eyes grew brighter for a second. Well, Daniel, more often than not, went on into chasing trips without him for days on end. One damned time he even forgot him in the closet for two days after having punished him for coming home empty-handed repeatedly.

 

“ **Kid, you are staying here. We can’t leave you by yourself like that, and you’re welcome in this shack anyday, alright?** ”

 

Bill was about to protest when Dipper entered the kitchen, before letting his human torso collapse on the table, panting and making Grunkle Stan complain about the rest of the food he was lying on.

 

“So…did you get it?” Bill asked, Dipper shook his head, noticing his ear getting soaked in some maple syrup.

 

“No, she closed herself in the bathroom...” Bill laughed sympathetically and patted him on the shoulder. When his hand moved to the fluffy ear, he was met with the sticky substance and he pulled his hand away in disgust.

 

“Ugh, dude, you’re sleeping in the syrup!” The deer boy raised his head quickly, looking at the now even hairy- _er_ pancakes.

 

“Woops,” he said, scratching the back of his head. “Stan, I just made Dipcakes! ‘Want some?”

The gargoyle laughed and got up to take some stuff from the table to clean them later. “ **Sorry, kid, but I’m gonna have to decline the offer. Now go take a shower before you put that stuff on all of the furniture.** ” Dipper got up and shook his head, effectively fwipping the stuff around.

 

“Er―Fine, you coming, Bill?” Without waiting for an answer he gently took the boy’s wrist and dragged him out of the kitchen. The blonde awkwardly waved at the grumpy gargoyle as they climbed up the stairs.

 

Dipper led him to the bedroom, telling him he could do as he pleased while he was showering, so he decided to look around. The walls and floor were made of wood, and big beams crisscrossed through the ceiling and held  up the roof of the shack. Around the bed he had slept in―Dipper’s he guessed―everything was in perfect order. The bed was made, the mystery books were in a neat tower, and science books were tidied up on the night table. Bill chuckled to himself as he turned to the other side of the attic. Colorful posters of different boy bands were plastered over the whole wall, and the bed was unmade and buried under animal plushies. The floor before the bed was covered in sweaters and socks carelessly thrown on the floor, and to the side of it lied sticker books, a glue gun, and glittery-filled tubes.

Not knowing what to do without seeming intrusive, Bill sat on Dipper’s bed with his hands on his tight and pursed lips.

Bill sighed softly. Now that he had some alone time, the dark thoughts came crawling back to life like frantic flashes in his mind. Despite the comfortable rest Bill got last night he felt tired. Tired and worried. How could he face his father now? The man wouldn’t let this slide this time. It was all his fault. When Stanley told him his father was alright he had felt a wave of relief before his guts filled themselves with guilt and another heavy feeling he couldn’t define. A mix of fear and …. disappointment?

He slapped himself mentally for this, shaking his head before hiding it in between the comfort of his arms and knees. How could he even think like that? Sure the man hadn't made his life easy but he was still his father, and he was doing what was right for them and his mother…. right? He should be grateful for this.

 

He felt a cold bruise against his naked arms and he shivered, curling in on himself even more. The sound of hooves―heavier than the regular light sound of Dipper’s hooves―startled him, and he looked in the direction of the door. “Mabel?”

 

“Hey Bill!” the unitaur cheered, bouncing in the room, her tail waving in the air. It seemed to spread glitter behind her, leaving behind an obvious trail. She trotted to the window then, shutting it closed. “Aren’t you cold? The window was open and you’re only wearing a one layer of clothing.”

 

“A bit…” the boy admitted sheepishly, running his hands over the goosebumps covering the length of his arms. Mabel ran to her closet suddenly, and the next thing he knew, something warm and soft was being pushed over his head and shoulders. He took a deep breath when his head came out and he found the holes for the arms. Mabel looked him over with scrutinizing eyes before grinning.

 

“Perfect.” She said. Looking down at himself, he saw that he was now wearing one of the girl’s unique sweaters. It was a soft yellow with a duckling knitted on it. And it was kinda’ cool.

 

“Wow! Thanks Mabel!” Bill gasped in awe. “it’s really nice. Did you make it?”

 

“Yep!” She answered with a proud smile, “I knit every sweater I wear.” She sat down awkwardly as her lower half allowed her to and she rested her elbows on the bed next to Bill. There was a soft smile mixed with concern on her face as she looked up at him.

 

“Grunkle Stan told me about what happened yesterday… How are you feeling?”

 

Bill took a deep breath and lowered his head. Honestly he would rather have this conversation with Dipper, but there was something about Mabel that made him at ease, like an aura of comfort around her. “I think I’m fine…”

Her smile grew at this and she steered her white, furry legs so hard Bill thought the bright goldish pink hooves would pop out. After a few minutes of silence only perturbed by the sound of running water from the bathroom, Bill spoke again. “He’s taking a little long for a shower don’t you think?”

 

“Dipper? Oh it always take hours for him to get all washed up. It’s a bit difficult for both of us with the bigger bodies and all. And when he’s finally done he has to dry all his fluffy fur and he smells like wet deer for hours!” They both giggled. That’s definitely something the blonde would tease Dipper about later.

 

After another silence, Mabel spoke up. “You seem to really like him, huh?”

 

“Dipper?” Bill asked as he rose his head, startled by the sudden question. “Well, yeah! He’s the best person I’ve ever met.” Mabel’s smiled widened and she squeezed her cheeks.

 

“Aaaw, you guys are so adorable!” Bill laughed awkwardly, feeling uneasy under Mabel’s wild grin, and moved slightly to the side without the unicorn noticing it. He breathed out in relief when Dipper came in the room with only a towel on his shoulders, telling him he could go take a shower himself. He couldn’t help but snort at the really fluffy texture Dipper’s fur took after drying it with the hair dryer. Dipper pulled out his tongue at his giggling sister and friend and walked to his his side of the room, he jumped with a startled deerlike screech when Mabel gasped in indignation.

 

“Dipper! Don’t go around naked in front of Bill!!” Dipper and Bill’s face both turned a dark shade of red.

 

“M-MABEL! I- I’m not naked! You see my lower half like this all the time!”

 

“Er- Well technically… you are naked Pine Tree…” Bill added looking away to the window.

 

“ARH- Bill why?!” Dipper was grumbling under his beard as he walked to the closet to grab a shirt  while Bill went out to the bathroom, walking over the unitaur laughing on the floor.

 

The shower was heaven compared to the horrible tub he took bath in back at home, it cleared his mind from his dark thoughts and he came out all freshed up. Pulling on pants and underwears Dipper gave him because it was useless to him now, and the yellow sweater Mabel lended to him earlier. He smiled at his look in the mirror, feeling better than ever. Even his eye had had healed a bit and looked less swollen than yesterday. He walked out of the bathroom with a smile on his face, joining the twins in a middle of an argument he didn’t catch the subject of. They stopped talking when they saw him in the doorway, Mabel smiled at him while Dipper blushed, without a doubt remembering what happened earlier.

 

“Well well, look at you! Someone seems in a good mood aren’t ya?” the half unicorn beemed. Bill just nodded grinning at her, before turning to the still flustered deer boy sitting on the bed and his grin darkened. Dipper didn’t have time to ask Bill what was up before the boy was on top of him, crushing him down in a tight hug.

 

“B-Bill? What are you doing? Ugh- Why the sudden affection-” The cervitaur struggled to ask, while being unable to move in the tight embrace.

 

“It’s been a while we hadn’t had a hug Bambi that’s all.” Bill rubbed his nose against Dipper’s ears, sighing at how fluffy and soft they were. The brunette had stopped struggling, knowing it was useless in this situation. But he hadn’t anticipated another weight being pushed on them both when Mabel jumped on them screaming ‘HUG PILE!’. The air was knocked out of Dipper’s lungs, but he ended up giggling with them and responded to the hug by leaning his head on Bill’s.

 

Bill laid there, stuck between two warm loving magical creatures crushing his thin body in a tight hug, and he was very happy with it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> College is really trying to kill me. I'm sorry for all the wait between each chapter I'm trying to write as much as I can when I have free time ...  
> I wont give this story up! It makes me happy to write it, and knowing you guys like it too warms my heart <3


	11. Monster hunt !

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is ! A big thanks to my beta reader for keeping beta-ing this story despite being sick (rest now Pulchie please). It's pretty long I hope you like it !

“Monster hunt! Monster hunt! Monster hunt!”

 

Birds chirped, flying away from the security of the trees as the loud happy shoutings from the centaur/unicorn twin duo walking there resonated through the forest, making the blonde boy accompanying them sigh in exasperation.

The strange trio was walking through the thickest part of the forest―the most magical too, from what Dipper told him―in the goal of hunting some magical creatures to chase the boringness away.

 

It had been almost a week since Bill started living at the Pines’ household and the teenagers were having trouble finding something to do to keep themselves entertained. There was still Grunkle Stan giving them work in the shop but since Bill was there he gave the kids a break with all the chores. Dipper had told him he had never seen his Grunkle being so nice toward anyone but his money before, and Bill had to admit he really started to like the gargoyle too, finding in Stan some kind of a father figure he never had before. The gargoyle was calling the hospital everyday to give news of his father to the boy, and as far as they could tell, the man was still recovering from his surgery and hadn’t woken up yet.

 

Bill now slept in Dipper’s bed every night, while the cervitaur was _supposed_ to sleep on the couch downstairs. Except even from the very first night, Bill had walked downstair to collapse on the already asleep Dipper on the small couch. Now the cervitaur sneaked in the bedroom every night to curl up next to Bill. Whether it was payback for then or if he was just following in Bill’s example, the blonde had no clue.

 

Sometimes, the blonde wondered if his friend wasn’t a cat instead… A few days ago, when they were all watching _‘Spirited away’_ in a tangle of bodies with Waddles on the top of them, Bill had scratched behind Dipper’s fluffy ear the entire time and he had found the boy had fallen asleep on him. They ended up all falling asleep there and found themselves waking up under a warm blanket. Surely it had been Stan not having the heart to wake them up.

 

Bill discovered the magic of movies. While he _did_ have a TV back home, his dad was the only one who could watch it and it was always boring old football. He had begun to think it was because that was the only thing available, but Mabel had showed him the best animated movies she could find for him, while Dipper ― as he soon found out ― was more of a _Ghostbusters_ and zombie movie fan. But they couldn’t stay sitting in front of the TV forever and Grunkle Stan had pushed them all outside, telling them to breathe in some fresh air and to not come back before sundown.

 

Dipper had excitedly suggested a monster hunt, and had run inside to grab his backpack filled with cameras and his journal.

 

It had been at least an hour since they had begun their journey and they still hadn't crossed any magical creature’s path, and, really, Bill wasn’t surprised.

 

“Guys, you know that if you want your monster hunt to be successful, you’ve got to be _quiet_.”

 

“Duh,” Mabel huffed, “Everyone knows that!” Bill rolled his eyes, smiling.

 

“Yeah well, you guys are doing a pretty poor job at it…” The twins had giggled then but stayed mostly quiet now. Bill was looking at the ground, looking for prints or any clue that something had walked there. They all looked around for maybe 10 more minutes before Bill finally spotted prints in the wet winter floor.

 

“There!” He kneeled in front of the marks on the ground looking at them with interest. Mabel and Dipper trotted to stand behind him. Dipper’s tail was wagging in excitement and he was practically jumping in place, making his ears flap in every direction.

 

“Oh oh oh! I don’t think I’ve ever seen any prints like this before!” He opened his backpack to reach for his journal excitedly. He opened it and looked for a possible creature to match the prints. “Maybe it’s a griffin, or, or Big Foot!” he said as he turned the pages.

 

Mabel crossed her arms and huffed again. “That’s definitely not Big Foot’s footprints.”

 

“And what do you know about what what they look like huh ?”

 

“Nothing but these things are giving me the creeps! I don’t think we should follow that trail.” She said, stepping back.

 

“Aw come one Mabel, are you scared?” Dipper asked with a smirk.

 

“Pfft of _course_ not, but Dipper, I would prefer it if we found something else to follow.”

 

Dipper stood up and turned to his sister, hands on his hips. “Aw come on Mabel, don’t be such a party pooper. That’s supposed to be my job!”

 Mabel closed her eyes in an irritated expression, “Okay, you know what, you guys go ahead. I’m gonna go hang out with Celestabell Abethabell.” Before Dipper could say anything else on the matter, she had run beyond the bushes and tree line away from his sight.

 The boys kept looking in the direction she ran to before Bill broke the silence after having stayed quiet during the small argument.

 

“Who?”

 

Dipper pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. “Ugh, a unicorn jerk we met last summer, but apparently now they are friends.”  Bill could feel Dipper’s irritation but said nothing of it, instead pushing his hands into his jean pockets and looking down at the prints again.

 

“So, you still wanna follow the trail, or...?”  

 

Dipper puffed his chest out and started trotting in the direction of the prints, leaving the dirt path and walking deeper into the woods. “Yeah, let’s go.”

 Bill could tell that whatever left the prints, it left them not too long ago, so they kept silent while they walked, trying not to walk on twigs and leaves that would give their position away. Bill was being extra careful not to mess up Mabel’s sweater by catching thorn vines with the yarn. The cervitaur suddenly froze before him, making him bump into his butt and he almost fell on the deer boy’s back. Bill was about to complain when he saw the deer’s ears moving quickly in every direction, like he’d seen some bucks do before while on hunts. Dipper must have heard something near, and so Bill stayed silent, questioning his friend with his eyes. Dipper looked back at him and pointed before him and put his finger in front of his mouth, gesturing for him to stay silent.

 They took a few steps ahead, holding their breath as anticipation fluttered in their chests, making Bill’s heart beat faster.

 Suddenly, there was a terrifying roar and Bill and Dipper had to cover their ears. The blonde felt the ground tremble under him and when he opened his eyes again, he was met with what looked like a giant green belly button.

 He slowly raised his head, and what he saw made his eyes widen in horror and he started shaking violently. A huge green creature with giant teeth, sharp claws, and a snout in the middle of its face covered in scales and dirt was standing before them.

 A red glow illuminated his eyes then, and he heard Dipper shout something. But when he caught the thing’s gaze, the world around him disappeared.

 

...

 

Everything was dark at first. He couldn’t see or hear anything. He hated darkness.

But then, screaming, crying, and shouts of anger filled his ears.

 _W-Were they screaming_ **_his_ ** _name?_

What was happening to him?

He turned around when he felt waves of heat in his back.

Fire.

Everywhere.

People burning. The smell of burning flesh.

His dad, screaming in pain. Stan, Mabel and Dipper, twisting in weird positions as the fire licked their skin.

“No… NO!” Bill shouted, shutting his eyes closed as searing tears rolled down his cheeks.

Their screams refused to cease, and it was unbearable. He tried to cover his ears but it was no use.

Then he heard laughter. Manic and loud and it made his blood run cold. It sounded like it was laughing at someone, laughing at _him_. But when he opened his eyes to see where it was coming from he saw nothing. He couldn’t bear to hear his family scream in pain anymore. It was the worst thing in the world and he could feel more tears trail down his face in heavy strands.

 

“STOP IT! _STOP IT PLEASE!_ ” Even his screaming couldn’t drown out the sounds of their burning flesh and tortured cries. He felt as if though the laughing was now inside his head and when he looked down he saw his tears had formed a puddle at his feet, reflecting his face.

 

Only it wasn’t him.

 

In fact it was _him_ , but this Bill was laughing. He had a sick smile on his face, letting his sharp teeth show and his left eye was glowing a bright blue. _This_ Bill was looking at him right in the eyes, and when the crying boy shook his head, the thing did the same, as if to show him that the reflection was indeed him too.

 

“NO NO NO!” He shouted as he smashed the pool with his feet, making the reflection splatter away into dissipating fragments. And then he ran. He ran, and ran, for what felt like hours but the laughter wouldn’t stop, Dipper’s cries for help were getting louder and louder but Bill couldn’t do anything to stop them.

 

“ _BILL!_ ”

 

He felt scared and helpless.

 

“ _BILL!!_ ”

 

He just wanted to die.

 

“ _BILL,_ SNAP OUT OF IT!”

 

…

 

Bill flashed his eyes open, gasping for air. The darkness was gone and he was facing the monster again. It raised a hand to attack him but Dipper pushed him out of the way and they rolled on the ground, making Bill snap out from his sluggish daze. “D-Dipper?”

 

“Come on, Bill!” The cervitaur said as he forced Bill on his back and dashed in the direction they came from, away from the angry beast.

 

“W-wh―” Bill tried to talk but all that came out were stutters and whimpers. Dipper squeezed Bill’s arm and wrapped them around his neck.

 

“It’s okay Bill,” he panted. “That thing was a Gremloblin, and it’s really dangerous.” Continuing in his gallops he shook his head. “Man, I’m so sorry, Bill. We should have listened to Mabel…!” Bill tightened his hold on Dipper when he heard the Gremloblin roar behind them, followed by it’s heavy steps when it started running after them.

 

“B-But wha―at―?” He stopped trying to talk when he realized it was useless, he was shaking all over and shuddering in fear. Dipper seemed to contemplate for a moment before he took a sharp turn, surprising the blonde and the enraged monster behind them.

 

“When you looked into the Gremloblin’s eyes,” he took a breath, “you see your worst nightmare. I tried to warn you but it was―too late. I don’t know―ah―how much you saw though. Your eyes went blank and I shook you awake only a few seconds a-after you froze.”

 

 _Oh._ So that explained the horrific vision he had. Bill had seen his worst nightmare. Darkness, his loved ones dying because of him, and himself as what he always thought of himself. Though it had seemed to last hours for him. He tried to chase the memories away though as he heard Dipper’s cries of pain echoing in his head. Glancing behind he saw the giant nightmare monster was gaining distance and he gulped. “D-Dipper―”

 

“Haa―I-I know!” Dipper was having trouble breathing in his crazy run and Bill could tell he was getting more and more tired from jumping above the forest obstacles and the added weight on his back. Bill would have ran beside him but he knew his legs would just give up on him too.

 

The blonde took notice of the changing surroundings then. There were less trees and more dirt. The path was going up a small mountain.

 

“W-what are you doing?” Bill asked confused. They should be running to the shack, not climbing _mountains!_

 

“I got an idea―hah―just trust me!” he huffed.

 

“Okay...” Bill whispered as he turned his head to see where the gremloblin was when he saw that it was right there, behind them, and about to tear their heads with a clawed hand.

 

Screaming, Bill closed his eyes and threw his fist into the beast’s face. It was completely caught off guard by the sudden impact and it fell to the ground hard, making it roll into water puddles that covered the path. Not believing what he had just done, Bill looked incredulously at his fist and he raised his arms in the air in a victorious gesture. “HAHA!” Dipper laughed happily but they both widened their eyes when the thing rose on it’s feet again, seeming suddenly way bigger and louder. A shiver ran down Bill’s back when he noticed all the new teeth and spikes.

 

“ _Oh ****._ ” Dipper mumbled, and he knew that had Stan been there, he would’ve been grounded for a whole month.

 

It roared, spit escaping it’s wide mouth, and started running again. Way faster this time.

 

“Oh no, Dipper! DIPPER, _FASTER!!_ ” The cervitaur reared and Bill was sure he’d never seen Dipper ―or anything, for that matter― run so fast in his _life_. The blonde spotted a cave up ahead on the trail and it seemed Pine Tree was running right to it.

 

“MULTIBEAR, HELP!” Dipper desperately shouted. And before they reached the cave, a blurry mass of roaring brown dashed past them and jumped on the Gremloblin.

 

Without giving Bill the chance nor time to see what was happening, Dipper dashed in the grotte before stumbling onto a rock, making them both fall to the ground and roll. Bill groaned in pain when he had crashed against a rocky wall. He raised himself on his elbows weakly, pressing a hand on his head to calm the pounding in it and listened intently to what was happening outside. Loud bellowing and sounds of claws hitting skin were echoing in the cave and he could swear some of the roarings were bear-like. His head snapped to his right when he heard Dipper’s heavy and labor-induced breaths.

 

“Pine Tree!” Bill yelled as he crawled to the cervitaur’s side. He was lying on the dirty floor, both his deer and human halfs raising and falling in large gulps of air as Dipper rasped for breath. His vest was a bit torn and his shaky legs were soaked in mud from his run in the forest. Bill placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder in worry.

 

“A-are okay?” Dipper only nodded, eyes shut tight and eyebrows furrowed. Bill breathed out in relief and started rubbing circles on Dipper’s flank in a comforting manner.

 

After a moment, the fighting outside stopped when a pitiful cry resonated in the cave, which was soon followed by heavy animalistic panting. Bill heard the thing stepping closer, and the shadow on the entrance of the cave getting bigger. Bill’s breath hitched in his throat when he noticed all the bones laying around in the grotte. His heartbeat that had started to calm down now started to race again and he backed away while still facing the growing shadow. He wanted to scream but his voice was gone again.

It was only when he tripped over Dipper’s body―which successfully made the boy groan in pain―that the thing became visible at the entrance. A huge dark growling form in front of the sun, darkening the cave. Bill’s rapid breathing accelerated when the beast stepped inside slowly, getting closer and closer to the exhausted boys.

 Now that the light was back inside, Bill could now detail the creature walking to them.

 

It _was_ a bear.

 

Well, technically. It had a bear face, well, more like _faces_. 8 bear faces, to be exact, all attached to the same body. Bill’s eyes widened at the sight and he tried to crawl farther from the thing, only to be stopped by his back hitting the wall. The thing kept walking forward, only low growls escaping his many throats, and now the main head was just a few inches away from Bill’s fearful face.

 

“G-g-get away f-from u-us!” He tried to sound threatening but his fear had long betrayed him, and his extreme shivering did little to help. The thing stopped moving and was looking intently in the boy’s eyes.

 

Nothing happened for a moment, and Bill was holding his breath, unable to stop staring into the bear’s brown and feral eyes. Bill flinched as he expected the thing to attack him but instead, it took a large gulp of air as it breathed in his smell through it’s nose, before blowing warm air on Bill’s face, causing the boy to shut his eyes as his hair was brushed back from his forehead.

 Slowly opening his eyes, Bill saw the bear had stepped back a little, giving him space and was _smiling_ at him. He started breathing again, but was still completely frozen, not by fear but by confusion and disbelief.

 Then the thing stood up on his back legs and offered a paw to the groaning cervitaur still on the floor.

 

“Are you okay, young warrior?”

 

Bill let out a yelp when he realized that the beast had just _talked,_ as if it was totally normal and he hid his mouth behind his hands. Then again, since he met Dipper, he learnt that a talking beast was kind of normal in Gravity Falls. The main head was still focusing on helping the struggling form on the floor get up, but all the other heads snapped to look up at him, as if startled. He gave them an awkward smile and a shaky laugh. He slowly slid against the wall, away from the bear.

 

Dipper gladly took the thing’s hand as it helped him stand up, but as soon as he was up on his trembling legs, they gave in under him and he was sent tumbling to the floor. The bear managed to grab him under his elbows in time and sat down so Dipper could sit and lean on him.

 

“Sorry,” Dipper said to him weakly. “The adrenaline from earlier is leaving my system.”

 

The bear nodded, “It’s wiser to rest for now, young warrior.”  Dipper nodded and stretched his sore legs before raising his eyes and spotting Bill still pressed tightly against the wall in front of them.

 

“Hey, don’t be scared Bill, Multi Bear is a friend!” Dipper said with a reassuring smile as he gestured for Bill to come closer.

 

The bear nodded.

 

“Have no fear, little one. Dipper’s friends are my friends.”

 

“O-Okay” Bill weakley said as he rose up on his trembling legs. He managed to make it to the duo without falling down and sprawled next to Dipper, leaning on his furry side, which was warm from exercise.

 

“W-what the heck happened?”

 

“I was heading to the shack, but I knew I didn’t have enough endurance to run that far and I remembered Multi Bear’s home was near. So I ran there knowing he would help us out with the gremloblin.”

 

Multi Bear growled. “This beast knows it’s not tolerated in my territory. It shouldn’t have followed you here and so I gave it a lesson. It ran away with its tail in between it's legs!” He let out a deep throaty laugh as he slapped his thigh.

 Bill laughed awkwardly with him.

 

“Huh, thanks by the way,” Bill suddenly said. “For saving us I mean…”

Multi Bear let out a comforting growl and reached out a paw to pat Dipper’s head who giggled.

 

“Young Dipper here spared me when I was at his mercy and I will always be grateful for that. He even stood up to a pack of minotaurs for me. I owe him my life and I shall protect his in return.”

 

Dipper pushed the huge paw with his own hands and scratched the back of his neck. “Oh you know, I don’t think I would have had the guts to kill you anyway…”

 

“And that’s because you are humble and pure of heart, young warrior. I couldn’t ask for a better friend. And you have great musical taste! Hahaha!”

 

“Yeah, BABBA fans are here for each other.” Dipper said as he punched his fist on the bear’s shoulder lightly.

 

“ _BABBA?_ ” Bill asked confused. Dipper’s smile faded and he blushed a bright red.

 

“Er―It’s nothing! Just this band we like…”

 

Bill perked up at that. “Band? Like a rock band?” he asked excitedly, He had heard of them, but was never able to listen to them because of his father’s tight leash on him.

 

“I have it right there, would you like to listen to it, little one?” The giant bear asked, all of his heads raising in interest to look at him.

 

“Sure!” He said with a curious smile, ignoring Dipper’s squeaky ‘ _NO_ ’ in the background.

 

Multi Bear hummed and got up, walking to a radio on the other side of the room. He took a tape laying beside it and slid it into the machine. Pop music started to resonate in the cave and Bill smiled at Dipper, who seemed to be about to bury himself in the ground.

 

_Disco Girl ~ !_

_Coming through ~ !_

_That girl is youuuu ~ !_

_Ouh ouh ouh ouh !_

 

Multi Bear was dancing wildly with the music, waving his arms in all directions while all the heads were nodding with the beat. Bill laughed openly at this but Dipper was hiding his red face behind his hands.

 

“Come on, young warrior! I know how much you like this song!” With that he walked over to him and grabbed Dipper’s hands, forcing the cervitaur to get up with a yelp. He gave him a toothy smile and started spinning around with his deer friend. He didn’t let go until they both felt dizzy and Dipper’s face changed from red to pale green. The cervitaur was trying to gain his equilibrium again while laughing and stumbling on his quivering legs when he was suddenly grabbed under his deer stomach before being thrown onto the Multi Bear’s shoulder. They sang and danced in pace with the catchy song and Bill clapped his hands from his spot on the floor. The duo was terrible to be honest, but Bill felt a hint of jealousy that Dipper wasn’t dancing with him instead. But when he felt himself being raised from the floor to the top of the main head of the bear, right next to Dipper, the feeling went away. Bill had memorized the chorus now and was loudly singing the lyrics with the two monsters as Multi Bear was bouncing and dancing, making them bounce too as a result. Dipper’s ears were flapping wildly and the blonde only giggled as he continued to sing.

 

_DISCO GIRL!_

 

One of the heads tried to chop off Bill’s foot and he yelped, Multi Bear gave it a slap on the muzzle and it whinned. Setting the laughing boys down, the bear kept giving little slaps on the hungry head as he headed for a cooler Bill hadn’t spotted before, surely to find some snacks.

 

‘ _COMING THROUGH!_

 

It was Dipper who grabbed Bill’s hands this time and they resumed their ridiculous dancing by spinning around. Dipper’s hooves were making cute and light **_clacking_ ** noises. Bill loved the sound and it seeped through him in the form of laughter.

 

_THAT GIRL IS YOUUUU!_

 

They both sang really loud and off key, and Bill felt himself being raised once again as Dipper wrapped his arms around his torso and reared so he spinned Bill while being on his hind legs.

 

_OUH OUH! OUH OUUUUUH !_

 

Bill was clinging to Dipper hard, and braced himself when he felt the cervitaur lose his balance. They both fell to the hard ground and rolled, still laughing and Bill had to hold his ribs from the pain. He could feel tears prick his eyes from his laughter and they began to stream down his cheeks as the song slowly faded in soft notes. They looked in each other’s eyes as they were laying down, Dipper suddenly reached his hand to Bill’s face, and poked his nose lightly.

 

“Boop.”

 

Bill’s eyes widened, but his face quickly turned into a smirk as he wrapped his arms around Dipper’s neck and pressed his forehead to the other’s.

 

“Boop!” It was Dipper’s turn to widen his eyes and he got up blushing furiously again. Bill chuckled, straightened into a sitting position and observed his friend walking to Multi Bear as if pretending nothing happened. The blonde noticed Dipper’s legs were still quivering and he wondered if it was from the run earlier or from something else.

 

“Would you boys like some refreshment?” Asked Multi Bear, shuffling through his cooler. Bill was about to say he wouldn’t say no to something to drink, but Dipper answered before him.

 

“Thanks, Multi Bear, but it’s getting late and we should get home, Stan is gonna start to worry about us.”

 

“Alright, I think you boys should be safe now. Just don’t go off the path again.”

 

“Yeah, don’t worry. We’ll be careful!” Dipper called back as he joined Bill to grab his hand and help him up. “Have a nice hibernation! I’ll visit you again in the spring!”

 

“Bye, Mr. Bear!” Bill shouted while waving at him when they walked out of the grotte. But he didn’t have the time to make it outside before the bear wrapped his giant and furry arms around him and hugged him very tightly. His face was buried in the furry belly of the beast and he couldn’t breath.

 

“Good bye, little one. I hope to see each you again in the future.”

 

Bill could only nod, and the bear released him from his crushing grip. Bill took a huge gulp of air and coughed. “Y-yeah! hah―me too!”

 And with that both boys walked out, leaving the laughing bear on his own (well, if you could even consider it as that with all his heads).

 

## ~

 

The sun was setting when they reached the Mystery Shack, they were about to climb the stairs when Grunkle Stan came to meet them.

 

“ **What the heck happened to you two? I told you to breath some fresh air, not to roll in the dirt!** ”

 

Bill and Dipper looked down at themselves. Dipper’s legs were caked in mud and his clothes and Bill’s were torn and dirty.

 

“Yeah, sorry, Grunkle Stan…” Dipper said scratching himself behind the head. “We had… a little incident on the way and had to run away from something.” Him and Bill gave the skeptical Gargoyle an awkward toothy smile. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

 

“ **The important thing is that you boys are alright, but please be more careful. We wouldn’t want to send Bill to the hospital too, right?** ” He ruffled Bill’s blond hair. ” **You boys go take a shower and I’ll order Pizza.** ”

 

“Yay, Pizza!” Dipper shouted as he trotted up the stairs.

 

“What’s Pizza?” Bill asked following his friend to the bedroom.

 

“YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT PIZZA IS!?” they heard Mabel shout from the other room.

 

Stan chuckled and shook his head, ignoring the kids animately arguing about which pizza flavor was the best and Bill asking if pizza pancakes were a thing.

 He was about to grab the phone to order dinner when it started ringing, making him jump a bit. He took it and raised it to his stoney ear.

 

“ **Hello?** ”

 

“Yes, Mr. Pines? This is Dr. Darlene Peretti from the Gravity Falls hospital.”

 

“ **Oh, right... Is everything okay?** ” Stan answered, furrowing his eyebrows.

 

“Yes since I have a great news! Mr. Cipher woke up a few hours ago and he wants to see his son!”

 

“ **Oh um, that’s uhh… great! He wants to see Bill? Already?** ”

 

“That’s what we asked him, but he… insisted. He wants to see his little William as soon as possible.”

 

Stan sighed in defeat.

 

“ **A-alright, I’ll bring him there tomorrow morning...** ”

 

“Perfect! Have a nice evening, Mr. Pines.”

 

 “ **Yeah,  you too, Doctor. Good bye.** ” He said before putting the phone back on it’s base.

He took a few steps back and fell on the couch.

  
_Dammit_ , he thought as he listened to the kids laughing upstairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *evil laughter*


	12. If I had words...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys, Pulch has lots of issues lately so I'm gonna let her rest and not ask her to beta...  
> This chapter was not betaed by my usual beta reader and I thank them grantly for helping.  
> Have fun!

  Dipper felt way better after his shower. Sure the mud on his legs and between his cloven hooves had been a pain to get rid of, but the warm water had soothed his sore muscles and made him sleepy and relaxed. He was currently trying to comb his fur and hair to try to smooth the fluffy texture the hair dryer had given them, with no success. He gave up and put on a pajama shirt, before trotting to the bedroom where Bill and Mabel were having a really deep conversation about edible glitters. Bill was lying on his back on Dipper’s bed, legs up against the wall, and his head hanging above the other side of the bed, watching Mabel upside down. His still damp hair was hanging to the ground and he looked up to him, a sparkle in his almost healed eyes when he smiled at him soundly.

 

“Come here Pine Tree, I wanna cuddle you while you still look like a fluffy marshmallow.” the blonde said and made a grabby gesture to the cervitaur.

 

Mabel snorted and Dipper made a face, crossing his arms over his chest but still climbing on the bed next to his friend. Bill immediately wrapped his arms around his deer half in a bear trap grip and rubbed his cheek against his fur with a happy sigh. “You’re so soft Pine Tree, it’s like I’m hugging a cloud…”

 

Dipper was about to make a smart remark about the fact that it’s impossible to hug a cloud but he was cut off by a girly scream coming from downstairs followed by a ‘ **KIDS, PIZZA IS READY!** ’. The three hungry teenagers exchanged a look before all were rushing to the door.

 

“LAST ONE DOWNSTAIRS IS A DEER BUTT!” Mabel shouted as she was already half way down the steps.

“Hey!” Dipper whined with a frown as he entered the living room followed closely by Bill.

 

“Don’t worry Pine Tree,” the human said as he walked past his friend to sit on the couch, “Your butt is great.”

 

Blushing a bright red, Dipper went to sit next to him on the couch, taking a slice of pizza and turning to his grunkle.

“What was that scream we heard Grunkle Stan?”

 

The gargoyle swallowed the bite he was munching on before answering. “ **The delivery guy was an outsider, I think I scared him a little HAHAHAHAHA!** ”

 

“Did you at least gave the money to the poor guy?” Mabel asked with a concerned look.

 

“ **Yeah yeah, but that idiot ran off before I could get my change.** ” Stan grumbled before resuming eating. “ **So Bill what do you think of the pizza?** ” … “ **Bill?** ” Dipper and Mabel synchronously turned their look to the blond in worry of his silence.

 

Bill was slowly munching on his first bite, eyes wide staring into the distance. “ _This is the best thing I’ve ever ate in my life._ ” he whispered. Dipper could swear he saw him tear up.

 

“Oh my god are you okay?” He asked in disbelief.

 

“Yeah,” Bill said coming out of his trance and pulling his tongue out so he was talking funnily. “I just burned my tongue.”

 

The weird family went into general laughter for a minute. Mabel rubbed a tear streaming down her face.

 

"Just wait Bill, tomorrow I'm gonna make you pizza pancakes! With Mabel juice !" She said arms in the air.

 

"Bill you do not wanna drink Mabel juice." Dipper whispered as he gave the blonde a wide eyed look, shaking his head slowly.

 

Bill shrugged. "Why not? I'm sure it's amazing!"

 

" **If he dies I'll make your parents pay the assurance**."

 

Mabel huffed. "Don't listen to them Bill, you're gonna love it."

 

The human nodded and resumed munching on his pizza with a content sigh.

 

"Do you remember when I gave dad Mabel Juice after his coffee so he would be ready for the day?"

 

"Oh oh oh yes I do. I think he was a bit too awake that day... We haven’t called home in a while by the way!"

 

"Oh yes let's call home Dipper! I wanna tell mom about my rave music powers I’ve mastered!" The cervitaur giggled and got up, turning to his human friend who had turned strangely silent.

 

"Sorry about that Bill.."

 

"Eh it's alright Pine Tree, go call your parents. I will help your grunkle with the dishes."

 

"Alright!" said the brunette as he trotted to the phone where his unicorn sister was already chatting animately.

 

~

 

Bill was drying the wet dishes the old gargoyle was washing in the sink in silence.

The boy opened his mouth to close it right after a few times, too shy to ask the gargoyle for news.

 

" **What's on your mind kid?** " The sudden rocky voice made him jump a bit after such a long time spend in silence. " **I can hear your heart beating like a crazy drum from here.** "

 

"I-I... Sorry." Bill answered lowering his head. "I-I just wanted to know, hum- Do you have anymore knews? A- about my dad?"

 

The gargoyle put down the glass he was holding and sighed, Bill's stomach twisted. Did he go too far? Was he bothering the so kind and welcoming old man with his worry?

 

" **Actually Kid** ," Stan kneeled in front of him and put a stony hand on his shoulder, " **the hospital called earlier**."

 

Bill gulped.

 

" **Your dad woke up. He wants to see you, hum.. Tomorrow morning.** "

 

Relief flooded Bill before he could register the second part of the message. His breath stayed stuck in his throat.

 

"T-tomorrow?" the gargoyle nodded and squeezed his shoulder gently when Bill started shaking.

 

" **It will just be a little visit, I don't think the doctors will let you see him more than thirty minutes since he's still recovering.** "

 

Thirty minutes is already enough, Bill thought.

He didn't realize he started hyperventilating until Stan gently held him in a hug, slowly rubbing his back.

 

" **Ssssssshhhhh, it's okay kid, you won't be going alone. Dipper Mabel and I will be here. We won't let him hurt you again, I promise.** " The gargoyle's voice had never been so soft, and Bill couldn't help but deepening the hug for more of the so craved affection he needed.

" **That's it, try to breath with me.** " Bill did as he was told and tried to calm his breathing to follow the deep and noisy breaths Stan was taking.

When he was calm again, Stan undid his hold on him and looked him straight in the eyes. " **Better**?"

 

Bill nodded, but he could feel his eyes starting to burn from upcoming tears.

No. He would not cry in front of Stan and show how weak he really was. His dad had told him crying was for cowardly little girls. It was hard not to cry harder during those scolds, or when he was left to rot in the pitch black closet for a few hours.

 

He took a deep breath and gave the worried gargoyle a serious look, though his quavering lips were betraying him. “Thanks Stan, I-I think I’ll go to bed now, I feel pretty tired.”  Stan grunted and nodded, before standing up and ruffling his hair.

 

“You’ll be alright kid.”

 

But Bill was already rushing up the stairs, ignoring Dipper calling his name.

~

 

As soon as Bill made it to the bedroom he carefully closed the door and changed his clothes to pajama pants and Mabel’s duck sweater. Tears, he couldn’t hold in anymore, were already running down his cheeks and he crashed down on the bed. He hugged the pillow close sniffing in Dipper’s scent and letting himself go.

He could cry when he was alone, no one knew he was a coward this way.

 

His attempts to muffle his sobbing in the pillow must have failed because he heard the door creak as it opened, followed by quiet hoof steps, a sigh, and the bed moving under the weight of Dipper climbing on it.

Bill didn’t turn to him, he kept crying silently in the pillow. A warm hand gently grabbed his quivering shoulder and he lost it even more, his cries increased and he turned to face Dipper and encircled his arms around him, crying into the cervitaur’s shoulder.

He felt Dipper wrapping his own arms around his neck, whispering soft words Bill didn’t get and started rocking them back and forth gently.

 

“Ssshhh, it’s alright, you’re alright.” Bill shook his head.

 

“I-” sniffles- “I d-don’t wanna see him Pine Tree. He- he scares me..” Bill managed to say between sobs, as he hid his face in Dipper’s shirt, mindless of how it got soaked in tears and snot.

 

Dipper tightened his hold around him and started rubbing circles on his back with one hand, and putting his other hand on his blond hair. “I know, but you won’t go alone. We’ll be right behind you so he can’t do anything.”

 

Bill tried to calm his breathing like Stan teached him, to lessen his sobbings, to stop his form from shaking so much. All the worry he kept inside of him for so long, it all was exploding out of him now.

 

That’s when Pine Tree’s chest started to faintly vibrate.

When he kept a sob inside to silence himself, he heard a soft, almost inaudible _humming_. And then Dipper started singing.

 

“ _If I had words to make a day for you..._ ”

 

Bill sniffled, looking up to Dipper’s face but it was resting on top of his, making it impossible to see past the fluffy ears, so he just hid his face in the joint of his friend’s shoulder and neck.

 

“ _I’ll sing you a morning, golden and new…_ ”

 

Dipper’s voice was uncertain, shy, and squeaky, but so, so… soothing to Bill’s ears.

 

“ _I would make this day, last for all time…_ _  
_ _And give you a night deep in moonshine”_

Dipper’s hand resumed its petting in his hair as he started singing the same lyrics again.

 

“ _If I had words to make a day for you_ _  
_ _I’ll sing you a morning, golden and new_ ”

 

Dipper was singing low and slowly, and Bill tried to pace his breathing with the slow rhythm. Surprisingly it worked, Bill had stopped shaking uncontrollably and his sobbing was less frequent. He snuggled closer, careless of how Pine Tree’s shirt was all soaked with his tears.

 

“ _I would make this day last for all time…._ ”

 

“AND GIVE YOU A NIGHT DEEP IN MOONSHINE!”

 

And like that, the peaceful moment was interrupted when Mabel slammed the door open and sang loudly, making both boys jump and look up to her.

 

Mabel was frozen where she was standing with her fists in the air, her mouth still open and her eyes wide. Her eyes moved from Bill’s teary face to Dipper looking at her with a mix of surprise, disbelief and exasperation. He glared at her and gestured her to get out as Bill hid his face in Dipper’s neck again.

 

Mabel seemed to come out of her daze and quickly ran out with high pitched ‘ _sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry_ ’ before slamming the door again.

 

An awkward silence filled the room and Bill felt Dipper burying his face in his hair and groaning. Bill chuckled and patted his back. “it’s alright Pine Tree…’

 

“The moment is ruined now.” was the muffled response. Bill sniffled and let out a small laugh.

 

“I already feel better.” he said as he tightened his hold around Dipper’s waist, he felt Dipper squeeze him back. They stayed like this for a long time, not talking and just listening to each other’s breathing. Bill didn’t realize when they had sunken down, but they were now both laying on their side on the bed. The blond smiled softly when he heard Dipper’s breath getting more slow and regular, and he snuggled closer -if it was even possible-

 

“I’m so glad I met you Pine Tree.” He breathed out and started petting Dipper’s ear, the caramel fur so soft underneath his fingertips. Dipper groaned lowly, half opened an eye and smiled.

 

“I love you too.” He said in a sleepy and muffled voice before falling asleep completely in Bill’s embrace. Bill smiled, a last tear running down his cheek and he fell asleep as well.

 

~

 

Grunkle Stan sighed when he walked upstairs and found Mabel in front of the bedroom door with her ear pressed against it.

 

“ **I already found this weird when Dipper did it, but Mabel?** ” Mabel looked up at him. “ **Sweetie, I think we should have a talk.** ”

 

Her eyes widened in horror and dashed past the gargoyle down the stairs with a scream. “NO NOT THE TALK!”

 

Stan looked to where she disappeared off to, scratched the side of his head and shrugged, heading to the bathroom.

 

~

 

Dipper woke up when he felt someone shaking his shoulder and a gentle tug on his ear. He stirred and panicked slightly when he felt he was restrained but relaxed when he realized it was only Bill who was clinging to him still asleep. When he looked up to see who woke him he just saw Stan’s stone tail pass the door as he left.

He blinked the sleep out of his eyes and yawned.

 

It must have been around 7 am, meaning they would head to the hospital in 2 hours. They needed to get ready for the day but for that they also needed to move. Dipper was sore from staying entangled in the same position all night but he didn’t mind.

Bill’s face was just an inch away from his and he studied it. His blond hair was messy and partially hiding his eyes and long brown eyelashes. His right eye wasn’t swollen anymore, and only a faint yellow bruise could be seen around it. The dozens of adorable freckles spotting his tanned skin made Dipper breath out a chuckle and he lifted his fingers to trace the constellations they were forming. Bill frowned slightly before unconsciously leaning into the touch with a groan.

 

“Come on Bill, it’s time to wake up.” Dipper said quietly. Bill frowned and tugged Dipper closer to him and hid his face in the cervitaur’s chest and grumbled.

 

“Just five more minutes Pine Tree…”

 

“No, come on, we gotta go get breakfast and get ready.” Dipper stated as he tried to get himself out of the death grip.

 

“Noooooooooooooooo” the blond whined.

 

After quite the struggle Dipper managed to get on his hooves but Bill was still tightly clinging to his torso and let himself be dragged around.

“Pine Tree I’m cold…”

 

“Then let go of me and dress up.” Dipper said as he was looking for a clean shirt in the closet.

 

“But you’re so waaaaarm.” he said as he climbed on Dipper to lay more comfortably on the half-deer’s back.

 

“Aaaah fine. You can stay if you put some clean clothes on first. Off of me.” Dipper said grumpily as he handed the sleepy blond a set of clothes, keeping his smile hidden.

 

Bill groaned and let himself fall to his knees. He took the clothes and headed for the bathroom, dragging his feet.

 

While Bill was out of the way, Dipper changed his own clothes and trotted to Mabel’s bed to wake her up. She groaned as he shook her shoulder and hid in her blanket.

 

“Ah, come on Mabs, not you too!”

 

“It’s too early for unicorns to wake up.” Her voice was muffled under the sheets. “Wake me up again when it’s a proper time like… 3 pm or something…”

 

“No, you’re coming with us, Bill needs you, too.”

 

“Oh boy, yes you’re right!” Suddenly perfectly awake she jumped from the bed and grabbed her own clothes from the closet before trotting outside of the room. She greeted Bill who was walking out of the bathroom in fresh clothes and a little more awake and took his place.

 

Dipper felt Bill climbing on his back before he even heard him enter through the door. The boy was now laying on his stomach, legs crossed under the deer underside and arms wrapped around the human torso. Before Dipper could protest Bill squeezed him in a hug. “You said I could cling to you after I change clothes. There, it’s done, now let me sleep.”

 

“But-”

 

“Shhhhhh.” Dipper sighed exasperatedly as Bill rubbed his cheek against the fur of his back.

 

“What am I gonna do with you?”

 

“Carrying me downstairs would be a good start.”

 

“I.. Don’t think this is a good idea…” Bill whined in his fur and the deer hybrid laughed.

 

“Come on, get off, we gotta go downstairs and plus you’re heavy.”

“Alright, okay.” Bill groaned as he slid off to the side and got up on his feet. “I’m still cold Pine Tree..”

 

“Well, I’m sure Mabel wouldn’t mind you borrowing one of her sweaters again,” Dipper said while scratching the base of one of his small antlers. “Go ahead and choose one, I guess.”

 

Bill shuffled through the hundreds -it seemed- of sweaters and ended up pulling out a blue sweater with a yellow banana in the middle. Dipper smiled and rolled his eyes.

 

“What’s with you and yellow?”

 

“I like yellow, it’s flashy!” Bill answered as he put the sweater on, making his hair messy again.

 

“ **Kids! Hurry up, I wanna go to Greasy’s Diner for breakfast after we leave the hospital!** ” Stan’s loud voice resonated from downstairs.

 

“We’re coming! Greasy’s a small restaurant in town, we can ask for pancakes there.” Dipper told Bill with a smile as he walked down the corridor. He looked back behind him but Bill wasn’t moving, just looking at his feet.

 

“Hey, come on! I promise it won’t be that bad. I mean, we’ll be here and your dad is gonna be all groggy and tired from the surgery!”

 

Bill’s eyes met Dipper’s and he sighed. “I guess you’re right…” Dipper smiled and took his hand.

  
“Let’s go then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's what Dipper is singing to Bill : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1aAqnqBOnE

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading and tell me what you thought about it in comments if you would like ^^


End file.
